Networks Of Destiny: ReBoot
by NovelistOfTheSky
Summary: A deadly virus has begun to sweep across the Digital world which absorbs, corrupts, and enslaves Digimon and humans alike. With the Odaiba chosen leading normal lives, Gennai tasks a combat tested leader with the mission of traveling across both the real and Digital world to form a new team to investigate the ever growing threat. Post 02/during Tri/accepting Oc's.
1. Chapter 1

A long time ago I used to be a frequent writer on this site and I loved that. It's been a few years but this is an attempt at brushing off the dust on my writing skills for some fun. This story takes place from OC perspectives and will feature some of the original Digidestined from 02/TRI. This is a reboot of sorts of my old "Networks of Destiny" series which takes place after 02 and the films, as does this story. You're more than welcome to read the old series if you wish but it is not necessary for this understanding this story. This is for fun and I have no intention of making this a short story by any means, I will attempt to update every 1-2 weeks. If any of the others I used to write with are still active or around, drop me a message. To those with wish to send in OC's, I love using them so by all means drop a review with a character profile. They will appear eventually and throughout the story. To readers old and new, I hope you enjoy.

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Everything hurt. Warm burning pain brought him back to his senses, the only relief coming from the cold hard concrete slab he was laying down on. Instinctively he smothered his pale face with his glove covered hands, attempting to work off the grogginess. Everything felt heavy and unused, as if waking from a painfully deep sleep. He squeezed his eyes together as he sat up, the dim light too much for his sensitive pale eyes. Everything ached and burned as slowly his senses came back to him, revealing the distorted world to him. Orange blurs slowly revealed themselves to be nothing more than simple wax candles, forming a perimeter to the grey brick room. The only light source was multicoloured light that illuminated the room; astonishing moonlight that was being filtered through stained glass. His weary eyes studied the coloured figures immortalised in the glass, he felt a small pang of guilt as if he had forgotten something very important that was being depicted on the glass. The multicoloured light guided his eyes across the room and himself, as he examined himself he could easily make out where he had received medical attention. He still hurt, but not from where bandages had been applied with an expert hand. Rain relentless assaulted the window with almost every other thud sending a shockwave through his head.

"Holy shit." He groaned with an uneasy voice. It was almost as if he hadn't spoken for a very long time. The walls were lined with leather bound books that could easily have been centuries old. A small wooden desk nearby that was covered in notes and god knows what was propped up with an entire stack of these ancient books, their knowledge sacrificed for the more productive use of the desk. Slowly he pushed himself from where had been unconscious, only for his knees to give out as his feet hit the stone floor. He groaned as he painfully pushed himself up.

"Easy now, you've been out for a while." The voice caught him off guard as his head quickly turned to the source of the noise. Sat in the darkest corner of the room was a young man who sat forward with his hands together, and a pleasant smile on his face. He didn't trust the smile of the stranger. The stranger stood up and walked towards the man with effortless grace and poise, the multicoloured light flashed across his pale cream robes. He instinctively looked over the stranger; his skin was perfect, as was his short brown hair. No signs of any past injuries or fights. The stranger helped him to his feet and ushered for him to sit down in a small wooden chair next to a cold wall.

"Easy. You're going to feel unsteady for a little while. Your memories should be returning now, or at least some of them. Hopefully you won't remember about the money I owe you." The stranger jeered ever so slightly, it was a poor attempt of comfort that only made him more on edge. He didn't understand.

"Who the fuck are you?" There was more venom to his question than he intended. No matter, he didn't regret it. Something internal told him he had dealt with this person before, there was a reason he didn't trust him. The stranger's eyes narrowed for a brief second.

"You don't remember me? I'm almost insulted. Then again, you really shouldn't have any clue right now anyway, like you've jumped into a game at the half way point. That's beside the point, I'm Gennai. You'll remember soon." Gennai bowed ever so slightly with a perfect elegance to his movement.

"You're not human are you?" He knew it wasn't so much a question but more of a reminder for himself. Pain raged through his head as images and names began to flash and boil, rising to the surface piece by piece.

"Good instincts. At least you know on some level you're in the Digital world." Gennai clapped his hands together, pleased with the progress. Thunder cracked and illuminated the room for a brilliant terrifying second. His eyes scanned everything, the instruments, the table, scalpels, dozens of computers, and wires and cables that flowed all over. He realised it was less of a study and more of a warped operation theatre.

"Ah that'll be some of your memories returning at least, excellent!" Gennai smiled, he had to wonder if a small part of him wondered if Gennai was enjoying the suffering. Flashes of creatures and forgotten friends filled his mind, names and locations began to emerge, teams of people he had worked with, and others he had hurt.

"Do you remember it?" Gennai asked quietly as he studied him. He crouched down to stare the young man in the eyes.

"Remember what?" He bit back, struggling with the taxing mental images. His hand searched his neck instinctively for something that should have been there, the image of the gold necklace flashed in his mind. He shut his eyes briefly, remembering that it had been destroyed long ago. His crest had not existed for some time. His head felt like it was spinning.

"Do you remember the Dark Ocean? What about the Virus Kings?" Gennai asked in a small voice, not wishing to push him. He looked up, those terms felt familiar. They sounded familiar enough to send a shiver up his spine, and for his chest to throb in a phantom pain. Someone, or something, had done something terrible to him. There had been a battle, a very bad battle. He raised his hands across his left set of ribs, they were all there, but he felt as if they shouldn't be. A dull ringing began to explode in his head and he clenched his jaw, another flurry of images, of his former comrades, his blood, a dark grey beach and pitched black water, and worst of all was the familiar feeling of everything going cold and losing consciousness. He looked at Gennai with anger.

"How long have I been out? Why was I out in the first place?" Gennai regarded him for a moment, his eyes were beginning to appear sharper, his words more distinct and no longer slurred, his fists tightened and relaxed as he regained muscle control. He was recovering quickly.

"Eight months. Eight months too long. You took some very serious…injuries, in your last fight. I'll explain later. You need to rest." Gennai turned on his feet to leave; the younger man needed to rest, or at the very least Gennai decided he needed to rest. He reached out and grabbed Gennai's arm with strength he had not used in a long time.

"Rest? Why don't you tell me what you want instead of being cryptic as usual?" He held Gennai in place; almost everything had come back to him but none of it made sense, there were still gaps but he had questions for Gennai. Gennai would not help him of all people without a good reason. Gennai wrestled his arm free.

"Do you remember your name? Don't be smart, just answer the question." Gennai tensed for a moment, this was the question that he needed to be answered correctly.

"Will. Murphy." Will answered quietly with the slightest hint of doubt. It was the name he felt attachment to, but if it was his or not was another question. Gennai said nothing for a moment. Gennai reached into the giant dark oak cabinet next to Will and threw a heavy leather object at him. Will barely caught as it took him off guard. He studied it briefly as if it was an old friend. It was a heavy faded white leather coat with a thick hood, which had clearly seen better days. It had been his, once upon a time.

"Put it on. It's easier to show you." Gennai pulled up the hood of his robes before almost gliding to the complete other end of the dark stone room. He turned and faced Will who was slowly putting on the leather coat. The weight of it felt familiar and brought back a flood of nostalgia, especially as his eyes glanced across a small tear in the left sleeve, an injury the coat had sustained in its final service to Will. Those days were gone now however. Gennai pushed open a heavy wooden door leading outside and gestured for Will to follow. Will took a few steps and pulled the hood up; exhaustion suddenly hit him like a brick and caused the room to spin. He braced himself for a moment as the room stabilised, and he continued to follow Gennai.

"What the fuck is even going on?" Will muttered darkly under his breath. A hazy memory with missing parts, but worst of all, he had woken up in a strange place in the Digital world on a stone operating table. Will glanced back at the table he had woken up on and felt a sickness in the pit of his stomach. Nothing felt right.

Gennai led Will through room after room, each one leading down a twisted path to where they were going. They passed through libraries and workshops, dark stone buildings adorned with brilliant black decorations and art works beyond human understanding. Digital code was scrawled everywhere, either in bronze inscriptions similar to the kind you'd find on a Greek statue or just graffiti across a wall in sharpie. The room that caught Will's attention most was the most out of place in this bizarre stone complex. It was a giant room filled with computers and work stations, each manned by someone identical to Gennai. Each one was working furiously, typing without pause, hammering together some device, or using foreign tools to examine something. As Will passed one of these clone programs he caught a glance of what was being worked, a strange black liquid like substance with the occasional fragmented code appearing upon its slimy and shiny surface.

"It's a virus." Gennai's voice abruptly, waking Will from his almost trance like stare at the liquid.

"What?" He asked out of reflex.

"It's why you're needed. Every good outbreak needs a doctor." Gennai did not wait but kept walking. Will frowned and resumed walking in an attempt to catch up.

"What do you mean outbreak?" Will asked, his patience running thin. He had very little patience for Gennai, especially when he had been "brought back", with hazy memories, and knew nothing about what was happening. He could not help but relate it to a few times he had drank four too many and struggled the morning after.

"It appeared in small amounts at first, very strange small amounts. At first it did little more than corrupt the data of Digimon, easily fixed. Now, it's changing. The more Digimon it comes into contact, the quicker it is developing. A virus that evolves is a very worrying thing." Gennai sighed and reached a giant wooden door that began to push with ease. Cold air leaked into the workshop almost instantly. Will reached the door and felt the night time air wash over him, there was barely even a drop of rain now. Will walked quietly behind Gennai across a white stone carved bridge which held strong over a giant chasm that seemed to have no end. Will peered over the side, unable to make out much detail below the bridge and turned his head, finally allowing himself a sight of where he had woken up. Huge monolithic spires, incredibly large stain glass windows, bridge after bridge, it was a chaotically laid out building that was nothing more than a warped and nightmarish version of a gothic castle but Will recognised it in an instant. It was the foundry, where every Digivice and crest had ever been constructed, in that moment Will knew, if he had been brought here then it was serious. He and Gennai exchanged a look and in that moment, Gennai saw Will understood the topic at and was no laughing matter. Gennai simply gestured out across from the bridge and Will followed where he was pointing.

"Is that the virus?" Will questioned as he strained his eyes. In the distance was a mountain range but clear as day against the fantastic red hue of the colossal mountain, was a pitch black tar like substance. It pulsated and twitched violently before expanding ever so slightly, with white Digital code illuminating across every inch of its surface.

"In that form, parasite is a better word for it. It has adapted to absorb data from both Digimon and the Digital world. We are trying to keep it at bay but there are areas of infection all over this region." Gennai's voice was quiet and stern, his mind clearing attempting to create a plan.

"Where did it come from?" Will asked as his eyes studied the slowly growing mass.

"That is why I need you." Gennai stated bluntly as Will turned to face him.

"I need you to investigate it, find what's creating it, and stop it." Gennai paused ever so slightly, which allowed Will to interject quickly.

"Why me?" Will asked with a slight bitterness. Gennai paused and considered the answer briefly.

"No point hiding it. When you were injured in the Dark Ocean, you fell into a Digital gate, similar to Magna Angemon's gate of Heaven. Humans aren't supposed to fall into those gates. When we eventually found you, the virus was already attached to you. Mind you it was not the first time we had seen the virus by this point, and by no means was it easy to find you. But your skills are..."

"Are you saying I died?" Will's eyes narrowed in mild panic.

"What? Heaven's no! I can't bring people back from the dead, this isn't some anime with immortal characters and plot armour. The only humans to ever reconstruct in the Digital world were Tai and his friends. We still don't know how they managed that. You were just lost for a while, missing in action, as I believe your militaries call it." Gennai smiled briefly, a smile that made Will feel sick.

"Back to the point at hand however. I don't only need your friends. They've spread to the far corners of the Digital world, some even returned home I believe but their skills are needed now more than ever." Gennai smiled and placed his arms behind his back.

"I need you to reform your team." Will felt his headache getting worse with each passing second as he began to question if he was glad or not he had been found.

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OC form.

Name:

Age: (16-30).

Gender:

Description: (clothes, build etc)

Background:

Personality:

Digivice: (colour and design).

Digimon partner (Rookie to mega).

Digimon personality:

Extra notes on either:


	2. Chapter 2

I did not expect to hear back from all the old writers so quickly, and I must say, it made my week. All Oc's belong to their respective owners.

Will - me. Trace - Etiger1995. Alex - Dowski. Kairi - Mistysong451. Other Oc's that have been submitted will appear over the course of the story and early chapters when I feel best to introduce them. Please do feel free to continue sending more. Enjoy the chapter.

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A It was calm and quiet, a feeling he had come to enjoy more often than not in recent times. Light filtered into the room and perfectly illuminated every picture, object, and letter that had been left in his care. A place of memory for fallen Digidestined, and he was its protector. He knew every single piece in his care and who it was dedicated to. One of the first pieces he collected was a small photo portrait to an American Digidestined who had fallen defending Primary village which sat proudly towards the middle of the display. The display was simple, a decorative stone table surrounded by candles and small wooden seats, so people could pay respect. The room itself was simple, cut from stone in the side of a mountain near Primary village. All were welcome. Hanging off one edge of the table was a letter, filled with signatures and comments to a team leader from Russia who had been killed in the real world. It was a place to reflect and remember. The walls of the small chamber were adorned with names, dates, and short reasons of what had happened to them.

"Will you help or not?!" It was calm except for her. She had come with a simple request for him. He rose and turned to face her, he was easily taller than her. His brown eyes studied her for a moment before he noticed his Digimon partner at the doorway. He nodded, signalling he was fine and Black Wargreymon removed himself from the room again. She turned to watch the large humanoid dragon knight leave.

"Are you Trace Hinata or not? Were you not once one of the commanders of the force that held back Daemon?!" Her voice rose sharply with her allegations. She was correct though, he was indeed Trace. His build was larger now, thanks to the conflicts in recent years. His tan skin was scarred in so many places he had lost track of them all.

"I am, but I want no part in the conflicts now." Trace turned and faced the small alter again. He had sworn off of fighting, instead choosing to protect both Primary village and this shrine. The Digital world was in a state of conflict, factions had risen, human led Kingdoms warred in the east, to the west there were Digimon who fought against the Soverigns, and violence reigned supreme everywhere except for the south. That was why Trace had chosen this place for the memorial.

"But the red skulls forces are pillaging from Digimon villages, they're attacking Digidestined with no reason. They've killed half the people you have pictures of here. Why won't you help us?!" She refused to leave. Trace's eyes fell across a half shattered Digivice on the table. It was larger than a D3 and more complex in purpose. The previous owner had taken a serious injury in the Dark Ocean, and his Digivice had broken on impact. That was the last time Trace was involved in a conflict, he had watched his friend Will fall after a long fight, his body slowly falling into a dark digital gate. Eight months ago he vowed to no longer fight if he could help it.

"I have no desire to fight unless the Sovereigns ask me too. There are many capable Digidestined in his world, you should look for them rather than annoy me any further, little girl." Whilst he was only twenty one, Trace forced himself to spit out of the insult in hope she'd finally leave. She glared at him with every ounce of fury she could muster.

"You're nothing but a coward." She turned and left, furious at the older Digidestined's response to her question. She turned to leave, only for a brilliant flash of light to erupt. Black Wargreymon screamed in agony as he was blinded. Trace and the girl both turned, blinded by the same light. Before a word could be uttered, she was down on the floor holding her eyes shut. Trace shielded one eye in time as he heard footsteps rapidly race towards him. A fist flew at him and he barely managed to block it, the only thing he managed to identify was white leather before a flurry of more attacks flew at him. He was thrown to the side, crashing into the seats he could only just make out the feet of who had attacked him. Slowly and for an unknown reason all the light faded very quickly as Trace fell unconscious to a sweet lemony smell.

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Well that was the hard point over. Will sat back against a large rock on top of a hill that overlooked a strange, and yet logical area of the Digital world. Down below was a small lake with a tiny island right in the middle, once upon a time a cable car had sat there. Tai and the Odaiba chosen were the reason that it had long gone, returned to the real world. Now the surrounding area was filled with towers, creative impossible colourful buildings, bridges, and computers of all shapes and sizes. Will relaxed, finally able to catch his breath. To his right was a large Digi-egg, completely brown except for silver stripes along the base. He examined his knuckles, he did not remember his hand hurting this much the last time he punched Trace. It was worth it. He examined the black and white Digivice in his other hand carefully. It was the same size as a small phone, a keypad towards the bottom and a large enough screen to display more than just Digimon information. Flipping it over he examined the slot where his crest once rested, only now it was vacant.

"God damn it." He muttered angrily. Top of the screen was missing, wires had been pulled out, a button had been ripped from its rightful place, and the entire top right section was gone, the edges surrounded by soot. He did not dare even think to press any of the buttons, knowing his luck it would just explode in his face. His Digivice had been wrecked from the Dark Ocean but he needed to fix it as fast as possible. His eyes studied the valley below. The bizarre digital space was populated by people of every description who wandered and interacted happily. Will pulled out the pair of binoculars he had stolen from Gennai and studied the people as best as he could. Market stalls lined every half formed street, products ranged from medicine, weapons, to food and alcohol. It was too human for the Digital world and he knew exactly why.

"So this is where you set up your base, Alex." Will sighed. Alex was a former member of his team, but very different to others in the respect he had died years ago. Gennai salvaged his data and turned him into a digital being. Part programme, part Digidestined, with a whole range of powers involving data manipulation. Alex Dowski controlled the Digital space below, he was freely able to move it and manipulate it.

"I suppose it makes sense. You want to be near Trace and this is where the Odaiba chosen spent their first night." Will remarked to himself as he studied the people below. Without a doubt, they were nothing more than programmes that Alex created and controlled. He was willing to bet they were a security measure. Will watched carefully through the binoculars, spotting the building Alex controlled the Digital space from. That building would without doubt have the tools he needed to repair his Digivice, the problem was getting inside without Alex ever knowing.

"I could almost take a route straight" Will never had a chance to finish his trail of thought as a white armoured blur rushed him, he barely had a chance to move before he was ensnared in two white armoured arms.

"Good catch NeoFlamedramon!" Will knew the voice, he had to get away, and he had to go now. He kicked NeoFlamedramon's knee but to no avail. NeoFlamedramon held him steady. Will stopped struggling, NeoFlamedramon may be a purely white version of a Flamedramon, but he was a mega level Digimon, he had no way out of this. Slowly walking towards him was a familiar face. Tall, pale, and lanky, with very well kept blonde hair, Alex Dowski walked towards him, his plain work shoes crunching the dirt underneath. He was slowly rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt as he approached.

"I can't quite believe it." Without flinching, Alex pulled down the small mask Will had made, revealing his face.

"Gennai actually brought you back from the dea…"

"I wasn't dead! I was just stuck in a Digital gate." Will cut in, frustrated. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"You say that like it's a minor thing anyone could survive. Gennai literally had to reconstruct part of you from basic data. I almost didn't think he could do it." Alex folded his arms and stared at Will, examining him.

"You look like shit." Alex suppressed a laugh. Will rolled his eyes.

"So…I don't get to fight anyone?" NeoFlamedramon asked playfully as he let Will go free. Will regained his balance and his eyes caught NeoFlamedramon's wings. He had forgotten just how big a Digimon NeoFlamedramon was. Will barely turned before he felt Alex's fist connect with his face, knocking him easily to the ground.

"That's for letting us think you were dead." Will stared back at him in anger.

"I didn't exactly get a fucking choice in all that!" Will launched to his feet, as Alex erupted into laughter.

"I'm sorry! But I never get the chance to punch you! It's always you or Trace punching each other! It looked fun!" Alex broke into more uncontrollable laughter. Will exchanged a look with the giant white Digimon, as NeoFlamedramon simply shrugged. There were times Will struggled to understand the personalities of Digital beings, but even Alex was a special case. He had been a Digidestined who died and was brought back to be a Digital being, a fact many forgot.

"So, what were you after? You were trying to sneak into my home after all." Alex's personality suddenly flipped his eyes stern and smile gone. His entire body language changed as he braced himself quietly for a resistance.

"I need tools to fix my Digivice." Will stated bluntly, no point denying it now, especially when his friend was acting strange, even by digital beings standards. He held out his badly damaged Digivice for Alex to inspect. Alex moved with a grace rarely seen in mortal humans, he sighed and laughed, passing comments on various parts Will would never understand.

"I can fix this, hell, I'll even give you some better gear. Can't have you wandering around the Digital world like that! Heavens no! You look a state. Plus you need sometime for your partner to hatch!" Alex gestured to the Digiegg beside Will, before ushering him to follow as they headed to his strange Digital home.

"Ah!" Alex stopped and turned suddenly. "I have one condition. I need you to hunt down and… _deal_ with some bad Digidestined. Fair is fair after all." Alex grinned, ever so slyly. Will frowned. He just knew something like this was going to happen eventually.

* * *

He was furious. He was filled with rage. How dare someone break into a memorial for Digidestined. How dare they steal his friends Digivice! Trace rapidly packed a bag, camping supplies, an axe, matches, and food, everything he would need to track the asshole that knocked him unconscious with gas.

"You're going after him aren't you?" Trace turned to the source of the voice; he had forgotten she was here.

"What's your name?" He asked sharply. It was the first time he really noticed her. She was shorter than he was, light blonde hair pulled into ponytails. Her green eyes were much younger than his, not as experienced with conflicts as he was, but there was some experience. She had come to him wearing blue jeans and a red sweater, standard clothes for non combat Digidestined in this region, not suited to long travelling. Not that he could talk; he needed to change into his combat gear.

"Kairi. Kairi Houston." Now he noticed she had an accent similar to his own. She must be American, he thought.

"I'll cut you a deal. You help me track down this guy; I'll help your group wipe out whoever it is you're after." Trace said it with an edge, far more of an edge than he intended. He was angry, his blood boiling.

"You'll help us? If I help you?" She asked cautiously, clearly seeing what sort of mood was currently in.

"That's what a deal is, isn't it?" Trace replied impatiently. He could tell she was younger, at least three or four years younger than him. Whoever had attacked them did not have a Digimon with them, and had some gear; he or she was trained, or very experienced to be able to get in, take everyone out, and get out again quickly. Trace knew from experience you should never track someone like that alone. She was considering it; Kairi looked down for a moment and gritted her teeth.

"Fine, it's a deal. Where do we start?"


	3. Chapter 3

As I'm going back to work tomorrow I'm going to attempt to upload on Sunday's. Fear not, more OC's from the readers shall appear soon.

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Will stared at himself in the mirror in the small cabin, although he had just woken up from a Digital gate, his hair had kept growing. Alex allowed him the chance to finally shape up his appearance. His hair had been trimmed back to a well kept style, but still enough for a fringe. He frowned at the odd grey hairs that invaded the rest of his dark brown hair. His chaotic facial hair had also been team into neat stubble. He had also finally had a chance to pick up decent clothes, a dark maroon shirt with the sleeves rolled up, pitch black combat trousers, simple walking boots would have to suffice till he got home, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. His newest addition however was the large white leather sash he had made. It hung from his belt down to his knee on the left side, it was originally his white leather coat, but when Gennai had returned it to him it was in tatters. At Alex's home he had salvaged what he could, and he had written various Digi code symbols on it, before attaching it to his belt. He finally felt more like himself. Will sighed and walked over the window with a restless pace, attempting to relax whilst watching the land speed by. After his encounter with Alex and the deal, he needed to travel north and fast. He was currently on a giant pirate ship with cannons for engines piloted by an Agumon in a pirate costume. The Digital world never ceased to amaze.

"I gotta ask again, why the weird sash thing?" Alex questioned with a hint of smugness in his voice, as he lounged against the wall on top of the bed in the cabin. Will's eyes turned to him, Alex had forced his company on Will to make sure he carried out his end of the deal.

"I already told you, it's just sentimental. It's what I do." Will stated simply, letting his hand rest on his newly repaired Digivice. His belt still felt light however, he was missing his goggles. Whilst he failed to see why they became the figure of leadership in the Digital world, he still missed them now they were gone. They had been a present from the Odaiba chosen; a specific red head in the group had found them for him.

"Sure." Alex scoffed at the notion, Will wasn't sure why but Alex had become much shorter with his answers, more sarcastic, and he seemed to enjoy it. Will turned his attention elsewhere, staring out the window. Gennai always had a habit of asking him and his friends to carry out tasks and missions for the Digital sovereigns, he never fully understood why when there were many other teams.

"You have that face again." Alex stated bluntly. Will turned and folded his arms.

"What face?" Will asked cautiously.

"The one that questions why Gennai always asks us to do work for him. Why we're now tracking some mutating virus we know nothing about." Alex smirked.

"Enlighten me then, oh wise one." Will was tired and his reply was far rougher than needed.

"Well it makes perfect sense! Gennai can't ask the Odaiba chosen because they only a few high level Digimon, but us? Well, just you for example, your old team stopped a Digimon becoming a god, twice!" Alex raised his arms with a slight smile. He was right, Will's former team had stopped a god, but the second time led to the siege of Odaiba and a battle that lasted too long.

"Then there's Trace, the American Digidestined who formed a team, and stopped a Digimon controlling time, before going on to work for Azulongmon, just like you. Elegon, well he's a hell of a fighter, single headedly defended Primary village against a group trying to rebuild the Dark Masters. Leya, oh Leya, she's a born fighter. Fought against almost every major the Digital world has seen in recent years, fought alongside you at the siege. Myself? I'm already dead; I'm a digital being, so it doesn't matter." Alex sat forward and smiled darkly.

"But do you know why he keeps asking us? Of all the teams currently in the Digital world, we're the only ones with a real track record. A team of five people from across the world, united by chance time, and time again, until Gennai said enough! And he forced us into an official team!" Alex laughed, even Will had to admit, the events that led the group to meet in the first place were not cheerful and often riddled with conflicts.

"The other teams could easily do the same jobs, with some training and trust from Gennai." Will didn't believe that one bit, but felt he should voice it anyway.

"Maybe, but after all, we're Gennai and the sovereign's agents. We should charge commission. Most Digidestined don't even believe Azulongmon exists, yet we have him on speed dial." Alex laughed ever so slightly before laying back down. Will shook his head, it never felt as if they were picked because they were stronger or had a track record. He barely trusted Gennai and barely understood himself why he kept helping the Digital being. One day he fully expected to find out Gennai had replaced them, as expendable units. Will sighed, part of him wanted to believe he was wrong, but in the years of him being a Digidestined, something in his gut told him Gennai had plans for them since then beginning.

"So, why do you want to head north? There's nothing really up there but trouble and small towns." Alex asked, rapidly changing the topic of conversation. Will turned his attention from watching the desert plains slowly transform in luscious green fields, with patches of wires spread out against the giant empty plain. Will straightened up and folded his arms.

"I need to get a new crest, so I-we're going to go visit the elders. I'm going to convince them to forge me a new crest." Alex stared at Will for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"You're just going to get a new crest from the elders? A group that have hated you since you became a Digidestined?!" Alex continued to cry with laughter.

"This is why you didn't tell Trace you're back isn't it? You know this'll be dangerous!" Alex clapped his hands together.

"Yeah." Will felt a pang of guilt. "This is a dangerous idea. They could easily turn on us and kill us, especially as I don't have a crest anymore. Plus, there's a large area affected by the virus near the sanctuary of the elders. I want to really know what we're dealing with before we pull anyone else into this." Alex stopped laughing as Will spoke, and nodded.

"Well you may as well wait for your friend to hatch again." Alex shrugged, before grinning.

"I should warn you, Leya and Elegon, the north is their turf." Alex stared Will dead in the eyes as Will frowned.

"What?" He shut his eyes and titled his back at the mention of two of his former team mates.

"They went north to help Digidestined and Digimon in the region. There are a lot of raiders, corrupted Digimon. If it's dangerous, it's here. Elegon currently protects a small town whilst Leya patrols some of the region. Last I knew, she was investigating something big and dangerous." Will smiled a little, it was good to hear his friends at least hadn't changed all that much.

"We better hope we don't run into them. Only Trace and I know about you falling into a Digital gate. We told Leya and the others you just up and left. It's going to be a great reunion!" Alex smiled and laughed. Will sighed and resumed looking out the window. Slowly but surely he was creating a risky shopping list; get crest, investigate virus, don't get caught by Leya, don't die. He gently banged his head against the window, no longer sure of which task would kill him first. Suddenly he found himself wishing he was back at his apartment, doing anything that wasn't dangerous, risky, or exciting.

"One day, I'll get a day off." He whispered quietly to himself.

"Bullshit." Alex laughed.

* * *

Light barely filtered into the large apartment until Sora pulled back the curtain, revealing the stunning view of the Odaiba marina. She turned and examined the apartment, which was completely unchanged from the last dozen times she had visited. A simple kitchen lay untouched and devoid of any food, the black leather sofas sat perfectly still in front of the large TV, and a coat rack filled with various coats and jackets gathered dust. Sora walked to the far corner of the room, her feet echoing with every step due to the wooden floor. She examined the computer, a giant hulking machine designed for far more than just basic word documents. It was a set up designed and built by Izzy to help monitor various situations in the Digital world. It was huge with multiple screens, wires, and various pieces of equipment all wired together in a giant mess. Various note pads filled to the brim with ideas and records lay scattered around the desk, untouched for months.

"Still no sign of him?" Sora turned to face Tai who promptly fell into one of the giant comfortable sofas.

"No, nothing." Sora sighed defeated. Will had given her a spare key to his place a long time ago for when he was out of town. This was different however, eight months with no word except from Alex who informed her that their group would be gone for a long time. It wasn't unlike them to work on missions for Gennai and others, but going this long without contact was new for them, especially Will.

"You know how it is, Will and the others are probably just stuck rebuilding some half broken temple and he's going home when he can. His actual home." Tai shrugged, he fully understood how Gennai treated Will's team as he worked with them for a short time.

"He always spent more time here than home though." Sora sat down in the large office chair Will kept by his desk. Although Will was from across the globe, he spent a lot of time in Odaiba, even going as far as buying an apartment. Sora's eyes fell upon one of the few framed pictures in the apartment, it was one she had a copy of herself. It was a big group picture of the Odaiba chosen and Will's team, along various others who had fought together during the siege of Odaiba. After the siege was over and the city had recovered, everyone had a reunion dinner, she lost track of just how many people came from across the world but she was grateful for every single one. The picture next to it caught her attention as the light just began to catch it, it was a simple picture but it took the centre of the mantle. It was a simple picture in a heavy wooden frame but she knew it well, it was the picture she had taken with his team. All of them, Will, Trace, Alex, Leya, Elegon, and herself with Tai and Matt. Will's team had always stayed close, occasionally appearing at social events but all of that changed months ago when they all vanished without trace, except for an email from Alex. Her eyes came across the framed fragments Will's broken crest and her stomach turned.

"He should have asked us for help." Sora said sternly, her eyes fixed on the shattered crest. Tai frowned as he rested his hands behind his head.

"Does Matt know you have a key to Will's place?" He raised one eyebrow inquisitively. Sudden knocking at the door broke the moment as Sora and Tai exchanged a look at one another. Tai quickly rose to his feet.

"Who else knows where Will lives?" Tai asked as quietly as possible.

"Outside of the Digidestined, almost no one." Sora said, but she could no longer be sure. The knocking became more and more rapid.

"Will you better open the fucking door if you're there! Will!" The voice shouted angrily.

"I know that voice!" Tai said as he opened the door. There on the other side stood a well built young man in grey combat trousers and a black polo shirt that had been caked in red dirt, it had even buried itself into his dark skin. He was breathless as he moved some of his black dreads out of his face.

"Tai?" He asked curiously.

"Elegon!" Tai greeted the Digidestined happily, almost pulling him in for a hug until he noticed the red dirt.

"Is Will here?" He asked, straight to the point. Elegon's eyes searched the empty apartment quickly.

"You don't know where he is either?" Sora asked, the growing pit of worry ever increasing.

"No. I haven't heard from him in months." Elegon shut his eyes and raised his head to the ceiling.

"Fuck, I could really use his help." He slowly began to catch his breath.

"What's going on?" Tai asked, cutting straight to the point. Elegon considered the two of them for a moment, weighing up his options.

"I've sent out email and message after message asking him and others for help but we're struggling. In the Northern region a group of Digimon have been causing chaos, they've attacked other Digidestined in the area, they're hunting for something but they're strong. Really strong. Right now it's just me and Leya holding them back when we can but we need the others." Elegon sighed, he was exhausted and it had been weeks since he had a proper rest.

"We can help." Tai instantly stated.

"No. You shouldn't. Gennai has sent help and sealed most of the Digital gates in the area to stop Digidestined reaching the area. It's only a small group of Digimon, but it's who is leading them is the issue. Will and Trace were the only ones who could deal with him before. You'd do more to help us by staying here and trying to find Will. Last I heard he was here in Odaiba somewhere." Elegon quickly looked at his Digivice and shook his head.

"Who is it?" Sora asked as she handed Elegon a glass of water that he accepted gratefully and drained it in seconds.

"I can't say, really, I can't." Tai shook his head.

"I always hated how hush hush your group was." Tai frowned, his temper close to snapping.

"We can handle it, you've worked with us before, but for this one we need Will." Elegon stood up completely and locked eyes with Tai.

"Don't even think of fighting, it wouldn't help anyone. The best thing we could do is find Izzy and ask if he can find the signal of Will's Digivice, sound good?" Sora watched as both young men nodded, they recognised it was less of a suggestion and more of an order. The feeling of worry in her stomach had grown, she knew that there were small conflicts going on in the Digital world but it had never been something Gennai was unable to handle. She glanced over at the photo of Will and Elegon's team and quietly hoped they could handle whatever was happening.

* * *

Elegon is owned by Elegon. Fear not, there will be action soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay with this chapter but I am busy at the moment, next chapter shall be longer.

If you are thirsty for a good read however, check out the new stories from the other Networks writers.

Etiger1995 is currently writing a prequel, Elegon is writing a new series, and Megablastdragon has written a oneshot that takes place before this current story. If anyone wishes to read about the "siege of Odaiba" you can read the last 10 chapters of "Ride the lightning" on my page.

If there is anything you'd like to see in this current story, please let me know, I have no intention of making this short so I'm curious to see what people would like to see. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

"They're a few days away." The words barely filtered through to her attention; carefully she nodded and sent the person away. Leya sighed in the empty, incredibly brown, and muggy store room which had become her place of residence in recent weeks. She had arrived in town slightly battered and injured after dealing with some less than pleasant characters. As a result she was now working off her "debt" by helping with the town's security. She tied back her long brown hair and glared at the large map of the region which now occupied one of the giant walls of the store room. The map was littered with red marks and circles; she didn't have long before she had to make a decision of what came next. Her heart sank; this wouldn't be a problem if the others were here. She walked carefully over to the small table in the corner of the room that was littered with equipment and her usual clothes. She had arrived in the town weeks ago when they had asked for her help stopping a very serious threat. Her hands slowly started to repair much of the damage done to her usual combat trousers; she glared at the material that she was covering in leather. Her eyes fell to the photo on the table of her old friends.

"Where the hell are you?" She swore as her eyes fell across Will who was in the centre of the picture. Her laptop lay open on the email she had received from Elegon, saying he had no luck in Odaiba looking for Will. Elegon had joined Leya at the town when he heard the situation. Leya was grateful to have at least one old friend to assist her. Will however had just vanished without a word or trace for months, not even bothering to leave a message with Gennai. She was furious and horribly worried; he would never do this without a reason. There were stories of Digidestined who went missing and were never found. The Digital world was a huge place, hundreds if not thousands of undiscovered places waited quietly for Digidestined, she often found herself questioning if Will had literally fallen into one. She pushed back the combat trousers and paced back to the map, she was restless, and she was worried. There was a threat advancing to the small town she was currently in, she had to help it. She was battle hardened, she was a survivor, but protecting an entire town was different especially when you had almost no back up. She looked around for her Digimon partner who was nowhere to be seen, he was likely to already be out patrolling the perimeter.

"God damn it Trace!" She punched the map exactly where there was an arrow pointing towards the name Trace, located just outside of primary village. He was one of the best fighters she knew but he had refused to join her and Elegon at the town, saying he no longer wished to be involved in conflicts. A rapid knocking at the door ruined her train of chaotic thoughts; no doubt it was another Digidestined or Digimon about to question what her plan was, and when help would be arriving. She sighed angrily and approached the door, not entirely sure if she was ready for another day of questions.

* * *

"So who was he?" Trace looked towards the girl who was now following him, everywhere. BlackWargreymon snorted in annoyance as he pushed through the undergrowth of the forest they were currently in. Kairi's partner, a small brown bunny Digimon with excessively large ears followed her loyally.

"He was a friend." Trace answered simply, he was quietly pleased to be on some form of mission again, even if it was only to retrieve something that had been stolen.

"Fine, hey if you don't want me to work at my best then I guess you can just leave out all the details." Kairi answered with a strong tone of indifference, she smirked as Trace sighed heavily. He wiped the sweat from his forehead in the painfully warm forest; even his thin black hooded long coat was too much.

"He was one of the original Digidestined. He became a Digidestined with the sole purpose of protecting other Digidestined, specifically, the Odaiba chosen. Somehow he ended up travelling around to various parts of the world, linking up with other Digidestined and helping them. That's how he met most of us before we really became a team during the siege of Odaiba. After that we worked together going here and there. He was a good person and there were many Digidestined who knew of him, even if they never met him." Blackwargreymon slashed down another part of the bush and grunted, refusing to comment.

"Every Digidestined knows what happened in Odaiba. Maybe not the exact details, but most of us saw the aftermath. A lot of the younger and newer Digidestined don't quite believe it though." Kairi rolled her eyes, thinking back on the stupidity of those she had met in the past.

"Yeah, the Japanese military did a good job of hiding everything. We ended up cutting a deal with them." Trace muttered angrily, remembering how Tai had set the terms for the rest of them to agree with. He shook his head, ignoring what he no longer had control over.

"So what are you after? Seeing as we're doing a share all." Trace asked with an edge of bitterness to his voice. Kairi hesitated for a moment as she climbed over a giant trunk of a digital tree.

"There's a small town here in the north, it started as a small town for Digimon but eventually some of the new generation of Digidestined used it as a base. Over the last year or two it's really grown into a big place. The problem though, there are four mega level Digimon here and they're trying to build a weapon. They've been stealing from the town, killing Digimon, they completely levelled a settlement and just won't stop till get the weapon they want." Kairi started out calm but her voice slowly escalated into anger. Without realising Trace placed his hand over his Digivice, from past experience it never ended well when Digimon found old weapons in the Digital world.

"You seem very well informed for a new Digidestined." Trace commented without pause, his thoughts drifting to the so called weapon.

"People at the town help fill in information I need, Leya-" Trace paused and turned immediately.

"You know Leya?" His voice was stern as he tensed up. Blackwargreymon paused and turned, his eyes fixed on Kaira and Lopmon as Lopmon slowly moved in front of Kairi. Kairi simply nodded as she watched Trace's shoulders become less tense. Trace and Blackwargreymon turned and began to walk ahead without pause, Kairi quietly followed behind, making a mental note not to mention Leya again. Trace sighed angrily, his thoughts drifting to the last conversation he had with Leya where she requested his help in a conflict.

"Looks like she gets her wish." Trace muttered under his breath, even with Will gone, just following his Digivice was leading him into a new fight.

* * *

"Hey, this one's all yours!" Alex held his arms in the air as Neoflamedramon sat down on the grassy hill and folded his arms.

"You don't want to help those people?" Will asked angrily, gesturing to a group in the distance they had spotted. Alex shrugged and lay down next to Neoflamedramon.

"We don't need them, we can take them!" Will turned his head to the cheerful voice of his Digimon partner who had been reborn a day before. He came up to Will's hip and was almost identical to a Gabumon but lacked the horn, and his fur coat was purple with brown tiger stripes.

"You have a good point Lightmon." Lightmon curled his fists, for the first time in days Will felt a sense of normality return. Something felt off however, Will had instantly noticed that Lightmon's fur coat had changed, only slightly, but it meant a change to his Digital make up. Before, Lightmon had plain curving stripes, now they were more like a tigers stripes. A change in Digital code was never good, but for now it wasn't a real problem.

"What's the plan? Do I get to blow something up?" Lightmon asked filled with joy. Will smiled, happy to know his partner and friend hadn't changed. He glanced at Alex and questioned if he had changed, or he had never noticed how eccentric Alex was before.

"I have a plan, a real good one!" Will smile, excited at the prospect of a fight.

"It's just one small group of pirates, why the problem?" Alex asked tiredly.

"They have prisoners with them, normal Digidestined. They deserve our help." Will glared at Alex who was simply relaxing with his back against the grassy hill. Alex shrugged, choosing not to pass another comment. Will shook his head as he walked carefully to the top of the hill, his eyes fixed on the group slowly advancing across the valley.

"You know they have ultimate's, how are you going to handle those?" Alex's voice barely reached Will but it made no difference to him.

"I told you, I have a plan."


	5. Chapter 5

The chapters are coming I swear! The submitted Oc's will appear soon as well, I'm just trying to get through the ground work for this series. If you are looking for something to read whilst waiting on new updates, go check out the new stuff from all the Networks writers. All of our stuff takes place in the same AU/OC universe so all the characters cross over eventually.

Megablastdragon posted a oneshot, along with Etiger1995 and Elegon both starting a new series, go, go read, go go go go.

* * *

His footsteps echoed loudly all around as he leisurely advanced across a huge stone bridge, decorated with hand carved lions and statues at every possible advance. Alex and Neoflamedramon cast their eyes up towards the huge church that lay before them with spires reaching to heaven itself. The entire building was adorned with multicoloured torches, black stone sculptures ready to leap off of the building itself, and there before them lay two huge ornate cobalt doors. Alex grinned; it was always easy to slip away from Will when he got distracted by some heroic rescue. Neoflamedramon paused and shook his head and folded his arms, he would go no further. Alex continued without even looking back, waiting for the cobalt doors to open before him.

"Come on! You know who I am!" Alex's voice carried easily as the doors slowly began to creek open. Alex continued walking; almost gliding as a tall humanoid figure emerged from the doors, as quickly as they had opened they shut. Alex smirked as he got the briefest of looks inside at the bizarre ritual based lab. It was the home of many Digital miracles, and Alex was here for one in particular. His eyes studied the figure before him who was easily taller than him by several foot, every feature was covered with red leather and gold belts, leaving only two golden eyes visible.

"You cannot enter, digital one." The giant figure cloaked in red refused to move so Alex simply stood a foot away, his eyes locked on the figures golden orbs.

"Whatever you say, Terra." Alex smirked, very few knew the figure in red existed, and even fewer knew her name. Terra studied Neoflamedramon who chose to remain on the bridge.

"You did not bring him, did you?" She voice spat out the word "him".

"No, Will's off playing hero. I'm here to see you on his behalf." Alex remarked simply as he placed his hands in the pockets of his knee length white coat.

"What could a digital being want with me?" Terra replied with nothing but sarcasm, her voice low and dangerous.

"Oh you know why I'm here, he needs a crest and it's in both of our best interests if he gets it. Seeing you as you hate me less and this is the only place in the Digital world to get premade crests, I came straight to the source." Terra growled and lowered her shoulders as if ready to charge Alex.

"Ah! Now you know what's at risk! Attacking me does nothing for any us. Besides, we're both digital beings, that's not a fight either of us need right now." Alex smirked once more as he shook his finger at Terra.

"Besides, you know what's coming. We'll need everyone at full strength." Alex folded his arms as his eyes darkened. Terra stood to full height again, only growling quietly.

"Will and Lightmon returned successfully then." Terra's eyes narrowed.

"Yes, but they have no memory of anything that transpired. It's better that way, for now. We have a lot to prepare." Alex scanned Terra, searching for any sign of a crest and tag. Terra reached behind his back and quickly threw a small brown box at Alex, who caught it without effort.

"So, he is coming. The Digital world is already showing symptoms of his presence. Where are Will and Lightmon now?" Terra growled quietly again.

"Off being heroes as usual. You know, Will is going to kill us if he ever finds out what we did to him, he is awfully protective of his memories." Alex opened the small case and inspected the crest inside it, he studied the crest itself and smiled, it was perfect to be Will's new crest.

"If they remember, it will cause problems for you and I. Whilst I do not approve of you or him, the union was necessary to learn information about our _enemy_." Alex rolled his eyes.

"I'm perfectly aware of what'll happen when he remembers. For both our sakes, let's hope that particular dark gate remains closed for good." Alex turned to leave, the small box in hand and began to walk quickly away.

"Your time is coming to an end digital one, you know that don't you?" Terra teased gleefully. Alex turned, his eyes fixed on Terra as Neoflamedramon crouched low, ready to strike.

"As is yours."

* * *

"Well isn't that creepy." Will muttered to himself as he slowly approached the group. The closer he got the better look he could get. Just ahead of him were four tall people walking almost perfectly in unison, dressed head to toe in black, all but one wearing a plain white mask with drawn on features. The fourth and final person at the head of the group wore simple black jeans and a black hooded jacket. All four of them had the same dark, demonic Digimon flanking each of them. The closer Will got however, he began to see three of them lacked a large amount of detail, like poorly made copies.

"Hey! Hey you guys! I could do with some help!" Will called out, raising a hand to wave. The Devimon and its copies turned instantly and cast their blood red eyes upon Will. Will's eyes fell across the four people who were being led in chains. The one person not wearing a mask instantly turned and walked towards Will.

"Oh thank god! I'm so lost! I was attacked and lost my way!" Will felt a small part of him slowly die; sometimes he came up with awful plans. As the lead figure dressed in black approached Will's eyes fell upon a very familiar set of goggles that hung off the figures belt.

"I would reall-"

"Shut up." Will never got the chance to finish his charade as the lead figure drew a large rectangular knife from his back and placed it to Will's neck. The only Devimon with real features slowly approached, his giant claws slowly reaching out.

"I'm going to give you a chance to just walk away right now." The lead figure pressed the blade into Will's neck as his eyes fell upon the large piece of leather than protected most of Will's upper left leg.

"You got some pretty interesting gear for a lost Digidestined. What is that?" He asked. Will raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"It's has the names of friends I've lost written in Digital code. I'm sentimental like that." Will lowered his voice, his patience running out. The figured leaned in, his pale skin almost flaking away from his face, his hair thin and receding, his breath warm and disgusting, everything made Will want to end this as soon as possible.

"You see those goggles?" The man gestured to the goggles on his belt.

"There used to be a team here, a team that swore they'd always help people. I killed their friend and took his goggles." Will kept one arm in the air as he stifled a small laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" The man shouted, as several of the tied people began to look over in fear.

"You should run kid! Run before he hurts you!" The young girl who called out was instantly hit in the back of the head by one of the Devimon fakes. Will straightened up and pushed towards the figure, his eyes now fixed on those tied together with rope and chain.

"If you killed him, why didn't his goggles turn to data like his body? What was his name? Well?" The man before Will said nothing.

"I've decided you're not going anywhere after all!" Will rapidly pushed away the man's arm and landed a strong hit to his midsection before jumping back.

"Now!" Will called out as a whistling sound erupted into the air as a red sphere of scorching fire hurtled through the air, sending red fire in every single direction as it crashed into the group and devoured everything nearby, kicking dust, smoke, and dirt In every direction. Will ran up the man, grabbed what was left of his hair line, and slammed his knee into it without missing a beat.

"You good?" A voice growled as a giant white wolf landed next to Will. His white fur was as pure as snow; save for the large red tribal marks that adorned his coat, rolling off of it like flames.

"Your champion forms look different as well, Strikemon. I'm good. There's a Devimon over there and what looks like three copies of it."

"Copies?" Strikemon asked, his eyes narrowing on his targets, his blood red eyes allowing him to see through the smoke.

"Yeah, we'll figure that out later, go!" Strikemon charged through the smoke, rapidly finding his target as his jaw made short work of one of the copies. Will turned to see the man slowly returning to his feet, blood running from his face.

"You broke my nose!" Will stifled a small laugh, barely understanding what had been said as his attention turned to one of the figures in a mask running at him through the smoke. Will easily side stepped a punch and slammed his fist into the mask. He stepped back as the figure whipped back violently as the mask almost melted.

"It's not a mask?" Will exclaimed in shock as he stared at the white paste that now covered his hand, as the figure collapsed and violently shook on the ground. Will gagged from the feeling of his hand hitting the soft mask.

"Red shot!" Will watched as Strikemon fired a second sphere of red flame from his jaws that made short work of the two other Devimon figures, Will made a mental note to actually free the people who he came to help in the first place. Will ducked as a blade cut through the air only millimetres from his head; he had failed to notice the man getting to his feet. Without missing a beat Will threw himself into the body of the man and knocked him back with enough force to drop the blade. Will gained his footing and threw his entire weight behind one final hit to the man's face, knocking him unconscious.

"Hey, bro! Help us! Those things are coming at us!" Will turned and raced through the smoke as a third red shot roared through the air above him. Will rolled and grab a small stone before launching it into the mask of the figure, the stone passed straight through leaving nothing but a soft hole that Will could see through. Will groaned in disgust as he threw his fist into the final masked being. He shook his hand violently to get rid of whatever the paste was.

"They are so not human." Will muttered to himself before turning his attention to the group of people tied together.

"You guys alright?" They nodded quietly, saying nothing to Will as Strikemon landed gracefully next to Will.

"What are those things?" Strikemon asked, doing his best to not knock into Will as he relearned his champion form.

"I have no idea, but it's nothing good. Any trouble from the Digimon?" Strikemon, the champion form of Lightmon, growled playfully and shook his head. Will examined Strikemon, the giant wolf was still taller than him but his appearance had changed from before. Something was defiantly wrong with his code. The smoke was beginning to settle as Will began to look around.

"I'll be right back." He smiled at the group of people who sat on the ground, terrified, in an attempt to calm them. He rolled his eyes as he jogged over the where the only unmasked person lay unconscious. Will crouched down and examined him, only to find no Digivice or crest or anything that remotely even made him a Digidestined. Will promptly pulled away his goggles and attached them to his own belt next to the leather that covered his upper leg. He also grabbed the knife and sheathe for his own use. He quickly tied the sheathe so it rested on his lower back before running back to Strikemon.

"Where's the nearest town from here?" Will asked as he cut through the ropes.

"There's a small town, few miles that way." A woman who was clearly the youngest in the group answered him quietly.

"Hey Strikemon, fire a shot into the sky." Will turned to the group.

"When someone gets here to help, hand that asshole over. Better tie him so he doesn't fight back." Will waved and turned to leave as a red shot erupted in the sky, filled the sky with a dull red hue.

"Who the hell are you? You're one of them aren't you? One of the elites?" One of the group asked as Will jumped on Strikemon's back. He frowned and sighed.

"I'm just a Digidestined."


	6. Chapter 6

Apologies for the short chapter. However, we are nearly done with the prologue of this story. Yes, I count these opening chapters as a prologue. Once that's done, more Oc's will appear. Also feel free to drop me a Pm/review telling me if you'd like to see anythingFor now though, enjoy the chapter.

* * *

She signed angrily.

"One more time, please, what did the Digimon look like?" Leya asked as patiently as possibly. She was stood in a clearing where they had been clear signs of battle, torn up dirt, burnt ground, data fragments slowly drifting away, and the bare remains of the cloud of dust from a fireball that had exploded in the sky. The sight of a fireball in the sky was too much to ignore this close to the city where she was based.

"It was a Devimon with four weird-"

"Not the Devimon. The one that helped you!" Leya was quickly losing her patience as the young man before her flinched. She had headed out with a small team to investigate, but only found four stranded Digidestined. Her eyes fell over several small black puddles of sludge with data slowly rising from them; a chill fell down her spine, something in her gut told her she had seen something similar before.

"Like a giant wolf, I mean huge, covered in red markings. I've never seen it before but I heard the guy call it, Strikemon, I think." The young man spoke quietly as he sank his head into his hands. Leya felt a pang of guilt for pushing him, he had after all been kidnapped and god knows what else. She walked away from the group of Digidestined she was in charge of, who were currently looking after the victims, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank god." She whispered quietly to herself. Her heart was racing. Will had vanished months ago, no trace; no way of tracking him, even his Digivice signal had gone quiet. People had looked for him and his Digimon partner but nothing ever turned up and it had been months. She had been on the verge of giving up but no other Digidestined had a Strikemon for a partner.

"So he's here." Leya turned to face the large samurai figure in elegant armour as he walked towards her, his dragon tail slowly trailing behind him. The mega level of her Digimon partner.

"Yeah he is, Komodomon." Komdomon straightened up and folded his arms over his chest plate.

"So why hasn't he revealed himself?" The dragon samurai asked and it caused a pang of pain in Leya she wasn't expecting. It was a good question, if Will was back, why wasn't he talking to them? What had happened to him?

"I'm sure he has a reason. This isn't the first time he's just…vanished." She shut her eyes and willed herself not to lose her temper. She was grateful to now be taking on a wider variety of missions for Gennai and the sovereigns; someone had to take up the slack with Will gone. But with no one sure where he was, everyone's thoughts had turned to a more morbid reality without him.

"We could do with his help if he's nearby." Komodomon let a hand fall to the hilt of his sword as his mind drifted to thoughts of the recent encounters. Leya nodded, he wasn't wrong.

"We should get back." Leya shook her head, as much as she wanted to chase down Will, she had to get back to town. There was too much going on to focus on just one person.

* * *

Trace stalked his way through the settlement and almost instantly he could tell what type of place it was. The sound of his feet on the cobbled street echoed all around as he walked through the middle of the town without any issue. Every where he looked people and Digimon barely left the safety of their doorways, even the market stalls were left unattended. Trace was used to this in certain places especially as his partner was a Blackwargreymon, and their combined reputation was less than sweet.

"Why are they all staring?" Blackwargreymon growled. Kairi carried Lopmon in her arms but she could feel the eyes of everyone on them. She had a point. Typically in Digital towns like this most Digidestined and Digimon were welcoming of strangers, but here Trace felt the need to pull up the hood of his cloak, although he resisted.

"They're scared. Things have not been good for a while." Kairi lowered her eyes from those she was supposed to be helping.

"Where's the local patrol?" Trace asked bluntly. His eyes caught sight of a small market stall filled with various knives, small wrenches, a shield, a brick, and various other mismatched items, but no market vendor. The sign read "human lucky charms". Trace stifled a small laugh, the sign wasn't completely wrong.

"We don't have a regular patrol. Whoever can do it when they can." Kairi said it plainly and Trace could already tell this place didn't have enough people to defend it properly. Trace shook his head and his eyes caught sign of an overly large red barn that sat in the corner of the town. His eyes scanned it quickly and noticed several small areas of it that had been changed or improved.

"That's where Leya is set up, right?" Trace asked without thinking. Blackwargreymon locked eyes with a young man who simply stared back and frowned at the tall armoured dragon. Kairi simply nodded to answer. The further into the centre they went, the more noise Trace could hear. It had been eerily quiet when they first entered. Trace quickly changed course, moving towards a huge group of people and Digimon that had gathered. Trace quickly pushed his way through the crowd to find himself at the top of a huge castle wall that wasn't visible from the side of the town he entered on.

"What's going on?" Trace asked, although his voice was slightly lost amongst the constant murmuring of the crowd. A small Patamon floated down near his head.

"You must be the new guy." Patamon almost squeaked and Trace simply nodded as he continued to towards the front, he would never have guessed there were this many people in the town to begin with, from the crowd alone it seemed more of a city.

"The cannon is ready." Patamon said meekly. Trace paused and turned.

"Cannon?" He asked at a loss for words.

"Yeah. Belzeemon is here with his cannon because Leya wouldn't meet his demands, and now he's going to fire on the town. This is the end for us, even Leya isn't here." Patamon spoke quickly before flying away. Trace sighed angrily as he finally made his way to the front of the crowd and what he saw took his breath away. There was indeed a tall leather clad Digimon leading a large host of various Digimon but beside them was a huge futuristic pale steel cannon with a giant barrel, that was easily as tall as the wall. Trace's jaw fell open at the sheer size of it, it was easily as long as several cars lined up, and the barrel was pointed directly at the giant castle wall of the town. It was a huge distance away but from the size of the cannon, Trace knew it would have no issue reaching the town. Bleezemon held his hand, a signal that was familiar to anyone from any combat situation; various vents in the cannon were taking in huge quantities of data from the air.

"Shit!" Trace turned and raced through the crowd, amongst the murmurs he could hear quietly people whispering they were doomed and admitting their deepest regrets. Trace raced back as much as he could but he knew he wouldn't make it. Briefly Blackwargreymon came into his line of sight and the armoured dragon turned to face him. Blackwargreymon narrowed his eyes.

"Go! Up! There's an incoming barrage!" Trace yelled at the top of his lungs, unsure if he was heard. Without missing a beat Blackwargreymon took to the air as the sound of an explosion rocked and deafened the entire area along with the cry of everyone in the town. Traced turned to see a monstrously blue orbs racing towards the town at break neck speed. Blackwargreymon raced towards it and gracefully prepared his own giant red explosive orb mid flight and hurled it towards the projectile. In a small second before the two collided the blue monstrous orb split into two smaller, quicker projectiles. As Blackwargreymon's attack collided the noise was deafening and the light was blinding, the sheer force from the collision caused every pane of glass in the town to shatter at once as the two orbs merged into one single orb before exploding in a column of fire and smoke. Trace's eyes widened in terror as the newly split smaller orb shot towards Blackwargreymon who had no time to dodge it and could only pull out his shield in the nick of time. The orb crashed into the shield and the entire sky was engulfed in smoke and flame, accompanied with more cries from the town. The second explosion was even louder given how it close it was, with balls of flame falling from the sky. Trace watched with his eyes wide in horror as a small Blackagumon plummeted from the sky. Trace bolted forward, his ears ringing from the explosions as he pushed people away from him as he moved quickly. Trace leapt forward with his arms out, barely catching Blackagumon in time before they both crashed into what was left of a small half burnt market stall.

"That. That hurt." Blackagumon whimpered quietly. Trace looked around to see Kairi and Lopmon taking cover nearby. His heart was pounding hard; he hadn't seen something as powerful as that cannon since the Odaiba siege. Trace quickly looked around to see buildings on fire, glass scattered everywhere, and people and Digimon were hurt and running. He feared to think what a direct hit would have done.

"Well you know how to make an entrance." Trace turned to see Leya standing over him. With her were a number of other Digidestined who took off running to help others in the area. He caught his breath as best as he could and took the hand Leya was offering, allowing him to get to back on his feet with Blackagumon still in his arms.

"What the fuck is going on around here?"


	7. Chapter 7

One or two more chapters to finish off the prologue and then the Oc's will begin to appear. In the mean time if you're waiting, go check out the new stories by Megablastdragon, Etiger1995, and Elegon, all of which take place in the same universe as this story.

* * *

Leya sighed heavily as she paused with her hand on the door knob. She rested her head against the door for a moment, painfully aware of the conversation she was about to have with her former comrade. Everyone was still cleaning up the mess from the explosions; dread rose up in her when she contemplated what would have happened if Trace and Blackwargreymon hadn't arrived. She should never have left the town purely based on speculation of a sighting of Will. She took a deep breath, paused to gather her thoughts and entered the room, only to be greeted by the sight of two Digidestined.

"Kairi." She nodded to the younger Digidestined who sat the basic table in the centre of the room. Kairi waved. Leya remembered how Kairi had said she'd go get more help, but she had failed to notice the younger girl even leave. It was hard to keep track of the Digidestined in the town with so much chaos going on. Her eyes moved to the taller individual who was staring, more glaring, out of the window into the distance. His travelling cloak was well worn and tattered in places; it appeared to be more of an item for a rogue than a natural fighter. She felt a small pang of guilt she realised she had long since discarded her own version of the cloak, no longer feeling any need of it.

"What's going on in this place, Leya?" Trace was straight to the point, refusing to take his eyes off the horizon. Leya could just see past him, his eyes were trained on the canon and the force that remained with it.

"It's a long story." Kairi said simply. Leya noticed Trace had grown a little taller, his shoulders more broad, his face carrying more definition.

"Then she should probably start from the beginning. I don't like Blackwargreymon getting shot out of the sky as soon as I arrive." Trace almost growled. He was tired, sore, and restless. Leya narrowed her eyes as she leaned back against a wall.

"Blackagumon is currently resting in the next room with the rest of the injured." Leya quickly paused and exhaled, exhaustion was quickly coming over her already today.

"Gennai asked me to come here. Investigate what Bleezemon was doing, and protect anyone who needed it. Bleezemon started off as nothing more than a cut throat, fighting his way through the region. But then he quickly amassed a host and began attacking anything and everything. He wants power and now he wants a base. This town is his goal." Leya felt the exhaustion beginning to push her down, she had been there for some time now.

"Why does he have cannon? I knew ancients used those weapons in past wars but I thought they were all destroyed, wiped off the face of the Digital world." Trace didn't question the fact a Digimon had decided to conquer the north continent, he had heard of it happening countless times. The Digital world was ever expanding, and so were the threats.

"Somehow, he knew exactly where to find it and dug it up. There are a number of ancient temples here, ancient workshops, and other things from older times in the Digital world. He dug it up and tested it on a mountain that no longer exists. It's powered by absorbing data from the surrounding area; it takes some time to charge so we're good for a while." Leya shifted her weight as she felt her utility pack slowly begin to pull her belt down.

"Why wasn't he dealt with quicker? Hit and run? Single target take down?" Trace was blunt and to the point and he shifted position, just being near a combat zone made him uncomfortable.

"Well in case you hadn't noticed, what with you taking time away from everyone, the networks of teams have been down ever since the siege of Odaiba and our little fight with the Dark Ocean. It's not easy to organise a large group to work together anymore. Syao and his team went home and dealt with an entire town falling into the Digital world. Reaver hasn't been seen in god knows how long!" Leya exploded but restrained herself; Trace had no right to question her methods since he had simply taken off to retreat to the depths of the Digital world.

"And where the hell have you been? Elegon at least had the decency to come when I asked for his help." Trace turned, the bags under his eyes showed clearly.

"I want no part of the wars that go on here. I'm done fighting. So is Blackwargreymon." He said it so simply and calmly it actually unnerved Leya. Lopmon rolled his eyes and Kairi stood up, no longer willing to simply listen.

"But Trace, you agreed. If I help you, you'll help us!" She stared him straight the eyes as Leya looked back and forth between them.

"That was the deal, but you haven't helped me. All you've done is bring me to a warzone." Trace glared at her, his patience had long since run out for this place.

"You're just looking for a broken Digivice of your friend!" Kairi shouted back at him plainly, Trace tensed up at the mention of his objective. He looked at Leya, knowing already she'd want an explanation.

"I run a shrine for dead Digidestined and their partners. Will… _left_ his Digivice with me. Someone ran in wearing a white leather coat, like Will's, and stole it. It was damaged so I don't know why anyone would want it. Look, I'll help you evacuate this place but that's it. I want nothing to do with the figh-"Before Trace could finish a small bang echoed in the room as Komodomon, Leya's partner, suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"I bring news." Trace's heart beat rapidly; he had forgotten Leya's partner could do that. Without pausing for a second Komodomon stretched open his armoured hand and a small bat appeared from nowhere and rapidly grew in size, his stomach expanding beyond expectation into a small screen as he screeched happily. The screen flickered to life to show a small area completely engulfed in smoke and fire, carnage had no doubt been brought down on the location. Trace's blood ran cold; there on the screen in the middle of it was Alex Dowski and Will. They both looked a little worse for wear as Will wiped away a small stream of blood from his jaw. Trace's own jaw fell open at the sight.

"How? How is he…how is he alive? He's supposed to be…" Trace struggled to find the words as his mind raced.

"They just took down a recon unit belonging to Bleezemon." Komodomon said it quietly, but he saw how Leya's eyes lit up. There were no words for the relief she felt.

* * *

Tai and Agumon leaned around the edge of the tree they were attempting to hide behind. In the distance was a number of mega level Digimon he recognised. He frowned; he didn't want any part of this. One moment he was helping Sora look around Will's apartment, the next moment he was on some super secret silly superstitious squeaky shallow spy mission. Tai sighed, realising that the threat was more than real.

"We aren't going to fight them are we?" Agumon asked quietly. Tai shook his head, since the siege of Odaiba his thirst for a fight had been extinguished almost completely. He wasn't afraid to fight, but he never wanted to be involved in such large scale conflicts again unless he had.

"They have to be the ones Bleezemon are keeping in reserve." Elegon spoke as quietly as he could from the next tree. His Digimon partner had taken to the skies to avoid detection. Elegon's eyes scanned the Digimon ahead of him; they were getting ready to move.

"Those explosions earlier had to be the cannon. Are you sure the others can't help? Matt? Izzy?" Elegon asked quickly, he needed to come up with a counter measure but at this point, he'd settle for any countermeasure.

"No. We have to keep them out of this. We don't even know what this is yet." Tai muttered it under his breath. His friends needed a break; they didn't need to be dragged into this. His thoughts fell to Sora who was still searching for Will and had to gone to find Izzy to make him scour the Digital world for any signs of the missing Digidestined.

"We need to get back; we need to warn Leya to get everyone out of the town. These guys aren't hanging around!" Elegon took off half running back into the tree, not waiting for Tai. Tai watched as the group began advancing out of the open plains. If they were headed for the town, it wouldn't take long for them to reach the town. He looked at Agumon and they both took off, trying to catch up to Elegon.

* * *

"Whew! That was a big explosion! I didn't think it was going to be that bad!" Alex laughed heartedly as he examined the broken bat camera near his feet.

"Well, I guess Leya will know we're here now." Will sighed, examining the drone he had seen countless times used by Komodomon. NeoFlamedramon landed nearby, folding in his wings.

"No more signs of the force that were holding this place. No sign of the virus either." Neoflamedramon sat down on the ground, panting from the recent battle. Alex sat down next to him and continued to laugh. When the drone had been shot it caused a huge pink cloud to shoot into the air. Will shook his head, looking around at the recent chaos. Smoke rose into the sky, fires burned on any remaining structure, data of fallen Digimon rose into the sky, and the smell of lightning and ash smothered everything.

"Good to know your crest works though." Alex commented between laughs. Will had to admit, it worked well.

"Your data has certainly changed though, Werestrikemon." Next to Will was stood a large well built humanoid white wolf, clad in combat trousers and bandages that covered his arms. An eye patch covered one eye with a huge scar running underneath it. In one hand he held a huge hammer, with smoke still rising away from it. The other arm was covered in metal protection, and dented from the recently battle. The second he had Digivolved, Will knew the ultimate form of his partner had changed. Werestrikemon simply snorted, still breathing hard from the battle. Will quickly slid the crest he had received from Alex back under his shirt, putting the topic away for another time.

"With no sign of the virus here, we need to get closer to a source of it." Will said quietly. Everyone knew what that meant.

"Well, the only source we could really pin point is on the side of a mountain, right next to the town where Leya is." Alex said, whistling at the end of the sentence. Will felt a nagging sensation, reminding him to get on with his investigation of the virus. They had seen the explosions earlier and almost instantly went to help. Instead they came across their current location, a grave reminder of how unstable the region was. It had been marked as a friendly location, only when they found it, it was over run by hostiles working for Bleezemon.

"They know we're here now." Werestrikemon growled, his voice heavier and harder to use than before. Alex leapt to his feet and clapped.

"Well then, let's go say hello to our old friends!" Alex walked away merrily. Will took one step and paused.

"Wait. Didn't tell you them I died?" Alex spun around.

"I told _some_ of them." He replied with a roll of his eyes.

"They're going to punch me when they see me aren't they?" Will felt his stomach drop, unsure if he truly wanted the reunion or not. He had hoped with him not there to drag them into battles, the group would have settled down but it seems he was mistaken.

"Probably!" Alex said gleefully, still on a high from the battle.


	8. Chapter 8

One chapter left for the prologue. I hope everyone, and the other writers of Networks enjoy this as much as I do. Don't forget to check out everyone else's work whilst waiting for this update. Also yes, I am still accepting Oc's. Enjoy.

 **Reunion.**

"This stuff is just disgusting." Lightmon moaned, stepping over the shiny sludge of black corrupted pools of data, holding his nose as best as he could. Will frowned in agreement, scanning the small pools dotted around the area. Will pushed back the white leather garment attached to his belt so it didn't touch the data as he slowly crouched down. It even smelled bad, the whole area smelt awful, like something had been burnt and seasoned with putrid spice. The black shiny sludge stood out from the snow of the mountain they were half way up. Carefully, Will used a small piece of wood to poke the sludge as he attempted to draw some out of its source. It stretched and whined ever so slightly as small red sparks ran down its surface as more Digital code raced into the air.

"It's alive?" Will questioned, slightly disgusted with his idea of an investigation. He had never been the detective in his group of friends so his methods were far from ideal. Lightmon gagged behind him. Will retracted the stick and the sludge quickly reformed itself in a few seconds before pulsing, pushing out by the smallest amounts towards Will.

"Any thoughts, Alex?" Will asked as he stood up and threw the stick into the sludge; only for it to be slowly absorbed without issue as it vanished from existence. Alex stood and turned from where he was nearby and shook his head. Will's eyes fell on the strange humanoid shape behind Alex that lay on the ground, the white mask, or face as it could well be, lay distorted from a well placed strike.

"They're connected. The corrupted data and these…humanoid things. No idea how, no idea why, no idea what. It's slow, whatever it is. Spawning from the sludge maybe? No, too slow." Will could tell Alex was in a foul mood. It was rare for Alex to be lost without an answer; he was a Digital being after all.

"If I had some equipment with me maybe I could…I should try to get a sample. I'd rather not get infected. How could it be contained…?" Alex trailed off, his tone becoming sterner as he searched for an answer. Will folded his arms; it was rare to see Alex think out loud. Something had been bugging Will however, Alex had barely seen surprised at this sludge or the idea of a natural born Digital infection. While he was a Digital being, he certainly did not have all the answers. Alex turned without sound and locked eyes with Will, snow falling from his frame.

"So, what are you going to do?" Alex asked with his tone flat and empty, his eyes judging. Will paused for a moment; they were no longer talking about the virus. Will stared off into the distance, his eyes focussing on the town nearby. He could just make out the shapes of the buildings from where he stood but it was easy to feel the fear the town felt.

"They should have enough help to evacuate." Will muttered quietly. He was torn, but he could feel Lightmon's judging eyes borrowing into his back. A force was preparing to attack the town, they had seen the explosions as clear as day as they shot Blackwargreymon out of the sky.

"There aren't as many combat happy Digidestined these days, they could do with our help. They already know we're here in the area." Alex stated bluntly. He had been updating Will on what had been happening since he had vanished.

"Don't you ever get tired of constantly being the guys in the fight? We can do just as much good rebuilding a town after a fight. There are a good number of fighters in that town, they could easily defended the town if they organised it properly." Will shrugged, since he had woken up all he had done was travel, fight, sleep, fight some more. Even during the Dark Ocean conflicts he had wanted nothing more than a break.

"Since when were you the one who backed away from responsibility? You're usually the first to jump into a fight! What was it you said once? It's about acting now while you can, fighting to help others in hopeless situations?" Will simply raised his arms and shook his head, he was tired.

"Fine, I'm going anyway. I better see you there." Alex snapped his fingers as a small white ball of data warped into an oval. Without hesitating he stepped into it, vanishing from the area. Will rolled his eyes, he hated the fact Alex could effectively transport himself short distances.

"We should be helping!" Lightmon jabbed at Will's leg as Will tuned to walk away from the town, causing him to stumble. He sighed loudly. Will regained his balance and looked out across the various black pools of sludge across the mountains before him. The last thing he remembered before the gate absorbed him in the Dark Ocean was how close they had been to creating peace in one of the major continents of the Digital world. Everything had been put in place from guard details, settlement plans; they had designed an infrastructure with Izzy and Alex to support a peaceful country. Now, there Will stood, in the North continent that was plagued with wandering groups of dangerous people and Digimon, a virus spreading throughout the world, Digidestined being kidnapped, and very few people trying to stop it.

"Come on!" Lightmon jeered at Will, trying to get a reply out of him. Will felt the weight of the crest against his chest, he had barely looked at it, not wishing to understand what it meant just yet. It was his third crest, and hopefully the last. The goggles that rested on his belt clattered against themselves in the wind, reminding Will of the various teams he had been a part of.

"Once a Digidestined, always a Digidestined." Will whispered quietly to himself. He turned to face Lightmon as he let his hand rest on his clunky Digivice. Lightmon grinned wildly as he was enveloped with a gold light that expanded outwards, changing his shape into that of the giant white wolf with red flames rolling off the fur. Strikemon growled enthusiastically as Will easily climbed onto his back and he held tight as Strikemon took off at a break neck pace towards the town.

"Let's go say hi to the others."

* * *

The evacuation had started earlier that day. The town had been seized with nothing but pure fear as people and Digimon alike rushed to leave. The plan was simple, stall the enemy forces as long as possible, evacuate as many as possible in that time. Trace shook his head as he watched so many flee from something they should never have too.

"You know, you always turn up the dangerous situations!" Trace shouted across the crowd as he helped push a cart down a narrow street.

"Ha. I could the same for you!" Tai jogged up alongside him, and began to push the cart as well, heading towards the exit of the town that led towards the mountains. Tai watched all around as people fled left and right. Wargreymon was instructing them from the sky, trying to keep the streets clear. Tai looked to his left, seeing Blackagumon raced up to help with the cart as well.

"Why aren't you out there? With Leya?" Tai questioned angrily as he pushed the cart harder.

"These people need protecting too, they can't be left-"

"You're one of the best fighters here and you're hiding! Leya asked me to handle this but you volunteered, why?" Tai cut him off and was met with nothing but a growl of anger from Trace. Trace watched as a young Digidestined raced past them, a small Patamon in his arms.

"I'm tired of seeing people get hurt." Trace spat back. Above them Wargreymon barked orders to a small group of Digimon who had gotten lost in the chaos. People were racing past them frantically, heading for the lower gate of the town.

"You're just going to let Leya and Elegon face them-" Trace paused and turned, his blood running cold.

"What?" He questioned angrily. Tai turned to face him, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Leya and Elegon are the one's going to stall Bleezemon and the advance forces. What did you think was happening?" Tai shouted angrily. Trace's heart stopped as his eyes turned to the centre of town as a steady stream of people and Digimon behind them continued to advance to the exit of the town. Trace rapidly undid the metal binding below his neck that held his cloak together and he threw it down on top of the cart, pulling anything off his belt he didn't need leaving only the most essentially equipment. Blackagumon laughed.

"Finally!" He cheered as his blood boiled, the excitement of a fight giving him energy as he stretched his shoulders and bared his teeth. Trace turned to Tai but Tai cut him off.

"I got this covered, go!" Tai grinned, seeing some of the spirit return to Trace's eyes. Since running into Trace in the town, Tai had noticed instantly that Trace's eyes were dull and lacked their usual character. Slightly however, ever so slightly, a flare of his spirit ignited his eyes as Trace and Blackagumon took off running towards the wall, racing along either side of the crowd of people and Digimon.

"What the hell is he doing? He's insane!" Tai never turned to acknowledge the voice as he watched Trace and Blackagumon vault over the wall and drop down outside the town.

"He's a Digidestined." Tai replied simply before he began pushing the cart, urging everyone to keep moving.

* * *

"Well, this isn't how I saw today going!" Elegon jeered as he laughed nervously. From sneaking around, looking for a missing Digidestined, sneaking around Odaiba, more sneaking around a forest, and now here he stood, watching a host of Digimon advance towards them.

"We have to do something." Leya scanned what she could in front of her as the pair slowly made their way towards the oncoming forces of Bleezemon. Leya could only hope the evacuation was going quickly enough that they could afford to stall the forces and get away themselves. She couldn't bare to look at Gilmon, her rookie Digimon partner, who stood beside her. Elegon's partner Zenmon, a small purple bunny with one black and one white eye, walked alongside him. Both were unusually quiet.

"Think they'll show up?" Elegon asked, in reference to Will and Alex. Leya said nothing, she had no idea where Will had been for the last year or so or why he would just show up now. She felt a small ball of anger rise up in her chest; she had only very recently dealt with Alex in recent months. She now found herself questioning things he had said in relation to Will. Alex had denied knowing anything, but now here he was, in the region, with Will. Once this was over, she would have to question him. There in the distance she saw him rapidly approaching, his black wings propelling him towards them. Elegon sighed.

"Great, another conversation with this guy." He moaned as they stopped walking. Before them Bleelzemon landed gracefully, his eyes glaring at them.

"Funny, I thought you'd run with the rest of them." Beelzemon sneered at them. Elegon said nothing and simply clenched his fists.

"We don't need to run from scum like you." Leya simply folded her arms. She knew Beelzemon wouldn't attack her outside of a fight; he was simply there to talk, as they had done before.

"You could have run. You know I just want the town but you've caused me so much trouble I'm no longer feeling kind. I gave you plenty of time to do it. You've seen what my new kit can do." Beelzemon slowly clenched his fists and smiled wickedly.

"You have no right to kick people out of their homes just to make a base for yourself. You're nothing worth being afraid of." Leya could feel Gilmon slowly moving beside her, just in case something went wrong.

"I know what lies beneath the town." Beelzemon growled before laughing and turning, expanding his wings as he took to the sky.

"You had your chance. Now we do it my way. What could the four of you hope to achieve?" Leya let her shoulders drop and she shut her eyes, allowing the gentle breeze wash over her for a moment. In that single instant everything was calm; there were no fights to be had, no danger, no evacuating town, just a pleasant breeze running across her skin. Elegon sighed.

"We've faced worse than you." She could tell he was worried, they had faced worse battles but they had always had help, or more numbers. With the team divided she forced herself to step into the heavier roles left behind, taking on the bigger fights instead of just purely recon work. Elegon was right; Beelzemon's forces began to move forward, some advancing on foot and others were beginning to pull the giant cannon forward. Without warning a small static white digital gate opened.

"Actually, it's more like the six of us." Alex jeered as he stepped from the digital gate, closely followed by Neoflamedramon.

"Where the hell have you been?" Elegon threw at him. Alex simply smiled and shrugged whilst Neoflamedramon crossed his arms, slowly Alex began to walk forward and the others kept the line with him, as Beelzemon began to drift backwards, trying to keep the distance between them.

"You lot are just full of surprises." Beelzemon laughed in his hoarse voice.

"I always preferred a more direct approach personally." Leya turned to the source of the voice, as Trace and Blackagumon jogged up to the group. Despite being out of breath they kept pace with the group. Trace cast his eyes among the others and rolled them.

"So much for a sensible plan." He muttered quietly, before straightening up, having already regained his breath.

"But where's the fun in that?" He laughed ever so slightly, Leya shot him a dirty look at first but now smiled at Trace laughed, something he had not done for a very long time.

"You lot are coming out of the wood work." Beelzemon unfolded his arms and frowned, he certainly had not expected this much resistance from a small under populated town.

"Just who are you weirdos?" Beelzemon growled, there were too many of them for them to simply be a coincidence now. A thumping sound had been growing in the background the entire time, getting closer and closer with each passing second. Trace turned and his jaw dropped as a giant white wolf trotted up to the group and a very familiar, very much alive individual leapt from the back of the wolf and landed next to Leya.

"Evening." Will said simply. He mentally kicked himself, realising it was in fact the morning. Strikemon shook his head at Will, but his eyes never left Beelzemon. Leya smiled, bursting with happiness as she looked up and down the line of her team mates.

"We're the Digidestined who are going to kick your ass." Leya replied simply to Beelzemon's question, who offered nothing in response except to fly back to his forces. The group stood there in silence for a moment, no one offering to break the silence with any comment, as they simply enjoyed being reunited for the first time in what felt like an eternity. They were a team that were rarely united by choice, rather through a predetermined Digital plans, drawn together to face down threat after threat beyond their control. Here and now however, they were choosing to stand together.

"Well, that is a larger force than I was expecting. This could be fun after all!" Will laughed as he cracked his knuckles, before them was a much larger force than most thought Beelzemon had. The enemy were racing towards them, with several mega level Digimon in front for good measure, and the cannon at the rear. Will had expected a reply, but as he turned his head, he could see everyone had their eyes on him.

"What?" He asked tentatively. This was a rare moment where every single word carried meaning. This was a reunion of the oldest friends, a reunion of one of the strongest teams, a reunion of people who had faced down death itself, anything could happen.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" It was Elegon who asked the all important question as Leya and Alex simply laughed. Traced glared at Will, he didn't know how he was alive in the first place but he would find out in due time.

"…I'll get to that, perhaps we should deal with those bad guys first? Sound good?" Will grinned. He had no doubt he was going to get punched later, maybe even stabbed.

"On one condition, first round is on you after this." Leya chipped in happily. Will pulled the goggles from his belt; it had always been his way to only wear them in a fight like this especially if he was leading. He paused and glanced at them before smirking, throwing them directly at Leya.

"Make the calls." He said simply. Alex laughed as he straightened his shoulder out; he had to admit he had missed working with a full group like this. Leya looked up and down the line to see each person and Digimon nod in agreement. Leya quickly slipped them over her head, allowing them to rest hanging from her neck.

"Everyone, Digivolve now." Each of their unique Digivices began to whine in unison as each of their Digimon partners took on their perspective colour of their humans crest, as five columns of golden light erupted into the air behind the Digidestined. Five towering pillars of golden light that could be seen for miles pierced even the clouds above the clearing as each of their crests appeared on their respective pillar, one for each Digimon.

The first to emerge from the pillar was covered head to toe in black armour, only leaving his thighs and arms visible. His gold hair stretched out from the back of his helmet. Trace's Digimon partner erupted from the pillar of light and floated down behind him.

"Blackwargreymon!"

The second was a humanoid figure clad head to toe in solid red and gold samurai armour, only his eyes were visible, and the long lizard tail that moved softly behind him. He dropped down next to Leya as he drew his sword.

"Komodomon!"

Alex looked over his shoulder and smiled, as he saw the image of his partner emerge quickly. He dropped down, covered in the white armour of a Flamedramon, covered in gold decorations along with a curved golden horn from the helmet, with two huge soft white wings extending behind him.

"Neoflamedramon!"

Floating down behind Elegon was a truly beautiful female figure, clad in intricate silver paladin armour. Strapped to her back was a quiver filled with pure white arrows, used with the corrupted and dangerous huge bow in her hands. Her helmet decorated with little more than two grey eyes, each with scars above them.

"Celemon!"

The final partner to descend belonged to Will. The figure was tall and humanoid, completely clad in royal blue armour, each piece decorated and gilded with silver. His helmet had two small, sharp wings, one coming off each side. Each of the shoulder guards were decorated with digital code and a pure white sash hung from his waist across the back of his legs, with a large tribal wolf on it for decoration.

"Zeed Strikemon!"

"Why does he look different? What the fuck were you guys up too?" Trace shouted angrily, Lightmon's mega form had looked radically different in previous years. Will sighed.

"Look, I'll catch you guys up later. This is new for us too. Zeed Strikemon, how you feeling?" Will asked as he turned to face his partner.

"I feel good." Zeed Strikemon replied simply. Together they stood five Digidestined and their five Digimon partners. Leya looked up and down the group and smiled, as she struggled to remember the last time the group had been assembled like this. She stepped forever ever so slightly.

"Let's get to work."


	9. Chapter 9

Apologies for the delay but I haven't been in the country for the last week or so due to work. However, better late than never, here is the next chapter. Please keep submitting Oc's and checking out the storiees of the other Networks writers, Megablastdragon, Etiger1995, Elegon, and Dowski. I look forward to your comments and reviews.

* * *

A multitude of explosions ripped through the first ranks as arrows hailed down across the enemy forces. Leya had called out her first orders and it was an opening move with enough chaos to make Will laugh. Blackwargreymon hurled a huge red sphere at the middle of the forces who desperately tried to avoid it, only for arrows to hail down and impale the stragglers.

"Move!" Leya called out as herself, Will, and Trace took off running with their partners. Alex and Elegon were to hold the rear for a short time. Will turned and nodded to the royal blue knight who bolted past the group at break neck speed, as lightning erupted around his fists as two pale swords crackled into existence before Zeed Strikemon threw himself straight into the path of a collection of Digimon. Will followed closely behind, following the now opening path to fulfil his part of Leya's plan.

"What the hell are those things?" Trace yelled out as he narrowly avoided the arm of a sludge like being.

"Just cut through them! They're data in human form!" Will called out as he drew the medium size knife from his lower back to cut through the sludge given form in front of him. An arrow slammed into the ground near Will as he turned back to see Elegon and Celemon moving, Will made a mental note to have words with Celemon after the fight. Without warning, Neoflamedramon barrelled past Will, taking out the next line of foes with ease. Just out of his vision, Will turned his head to see Leya run her hand through the air as black data particles radpily gathered and formed into the shape of a long and beautiful katana.

"She has a sword? This is like a fanfiction!" Will laughed hard as he kept moving.

"Oh yeah, says the guy who came back from the dead!" Trace snarled slightly as he was thrown back by a stray Orgemon's fist, hurling towards Will through the air, knocking the pair to the ground in a mess as they collided.

"I said I'd explain later!" Will spat back aggressively as he first pulled himself to his feet, quickly followed by pulling Trace up. Will sprinted forward as a white digital gate erupted next to him with Alex slowly stepping out of it and without missing a graceful step; Alex backhanded a black digital being and began to match pace with Will.

"So I had a look at that weapon, it's interesting." Alex began casually. Will ducked under a sword before turning to shout at Alex.

"Tell me how to stop it!" Will shouted as the sound of broken vents trying to power up filled the air. Alex sighed as he saw the source of the noise, as the canon slowly began to pull chunks of data out of the air.

"Well, basically, blow it up. Also, those data beings are fuel, they keep jumping into the vents at the back." Alex said casually whilst his mind worked quickly to understand just what was happening before them as he watched a tall, thin, lanky digital humanoid being slowly begin to clamber into the vent at the back of the canon. Before either of them could say another word Leya blitzed past them, blade in hand, expertly cutting opposition out of the way. Will didn't get a chance to warn her of the threat closely following her, as Beelzemon closed in, his claws reaching out to tear her back apart.

"You're min-" The final syllables were cut off from Beelzemon as Komodomon forced him to the ground with enough force to create a small crater.

"Wrong, you're mine!" Komodomon refused to let up, driving his fist down into the back of Beelzemon sending dust and debris flying into the air. In a swift movement Komodomon began to draw a small blade from his back, but failed to finish the deed. Beelzemon's wings erupted from his back, knocking Komodomon back and in a faster than light movement Beelzemon had his claws around Komodomon's armoured throat as he pulled him into the air.

"Neo, assist!" Alex's voice rang out for barely a second before the armoured form of Neoflamedramon raced past them in pursuit of Beelzemon. A hail of lightning and giant iron arrows pierced the ground and enemies alike as Will and Alex began to push forward.

"Aren't they a bit close?" Will shouted angrily, failing to see Elegon coming up alongside him.

"Celemon's aim is perfect! Don't sweat it!" Without warning an arrow sailed past Elegon's head into the belly of a Devimon that had been creeping up behind him.

"Okay, that was terrifying…" Elegon's eyes went wide as he felt the arrow brush past his hair. Elegon was promptly knocked to the floor as a young man close to his age threw his weight into Elegon's back.

"Sneaky son of a –" Elegon didn't bother to finish the sentence, instead choosing to focus on the fight. Will turned to help Elegon but was himself knocked to the floor by a Digital humanoid he had been running into nonstop since arriving in the north. Without pausing Will plunged the blade into the chest of the being as it proceeded to slump over him, black ooze pouring all over him which stained and ruined his shirt and soaked through to his skin.

"Fuck it, Zeed! Just blow the bloody thing to pieces!" Alex looked on in horror at Will's request, they had wanted to examine the canon, find the connection between the virus and the weapon. Above them Zeed Strikemon's right fist erupted in a coil of lightning, without warning he extended his arm and clenched his fist, the lightning vanishing. For a split second there was nothing but silence until with a single loud crack, a skyscraper sized bolt of lightning crashed down on the cannon sending out shockwaves of lightning along the ground, as fire and metal erupted in a thousand directions from the explosion.

* * *

Traditionally battles never go unobserved and this one was no different. Leaning against a small broken white tower was a tall athletically built adult, clad head to toe in black. Despite the heat of the sun he wore black trousers and pitch black boots, a black shirt, all mostly hidden with a heavy leather cloak. Each arm had two white belts wrapped tightly around them which matched the white mask that covered almost his entire face except for his stunning silver eyes. Slowly he stepped away from the tower and began to applaud.

"Bravo! Oh you five never failed to disappoint! What a show!" Without any sign he burst into joyous laughter and wiped away tears of joy.

"I'm so happy I get to meet you all soon! I've waited so long!" He raised his arms to the sky and yelled in joy as a column of thick blue smoke rose to the sky, accompanied with pillar after pillar of data fragments. He let his hand fall to his belt to carefully run his fingers over a large leather clad Digivice he dare not reveal.

"Welcome back, Gennai's chosen! I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart!"

* * *

Battles never go as planned; any Digidestined could tell a hundred stories of things that had gone wrong. Slowly, the group and their partners made their way through the town as people began to return to greet. Will pushed himself quietly through the crowd, exhaustion washing over him as he felt the cold black liquid solidifying on his skin under his shirt like a layer of mud. He carried Lightmon in his arms that had passed out from exhaustion of a new Mega form. Will was quietly grateful that most of Beelzemon's forces had taken the chance to run rather than fight.

"What did he say to you Leya?" Will asked over his shoulder. He frowned, she was covered in bruises, cuts, and self made bandages. Typically he was the one who picked up a few injuries and something didn't sit well with him about seeing his friend injured in the slightest. Komodomon locked eyes with Will, choosing to answer for Leya.

"He said even though he dies now, we will have to face more like him soon." Will could feel both Komodomon's and Leya's eyes burning into his back. For a brief moment he believed they were happy to see him, now however he was no longer sure. Lightmon stirred himself awake and Will lowered him to the ground so he could walk; Lightmon said nothing and simply wiped his eyes. People and Digimon alike had run to meet the group who had walked in mostly silence from the battlefield. Will and Lightmon were mostly ignored as people and Digimon began to look for Leya and Elegon. Will didn't need to look but he knew Alex would easily slip away in this crowd, and he planned to do the same.

"You're them, aren't you? It's you!" A young Digidestined excitedly ran up to Elegon and Trace. Trace smiled and nodded, where as Elegon crouched down to talk to the young boy.

"And who would that be?" Elegon laughed slightly, happy to see a buzz return to the town he had wanted to help.

"You're the Odaiba chosen aren't you?" The young boy cheered. Trace's eye twitched and Elegon simply looked at the young boy with his mouth open.

"Now listen here you little shit…" Trace muttered in annoyance, only for Leya to run up to him and slapped her hand over his mouth.

"No, no, no! We are friends with them however!" Leya chipped in cheerfully, hoping the young boy hadn't heard what Trace said. Just a little further into the crowd Leya spotted the back of Will's head slowly moving away and her heart sank. Without warning or any further thought she raced forward and pulled him back by his collar with enough force to spin him around and without hesitating, her fist flew into his face that knocked him to the floor. The crowd gasped and stepped back as Will slammed into the floor, only to be accompanied by the laughter of Blackwargreymon.

"Don't you dare think about leaving again!" Leya shouted at Will who lay on the floor, wiping a small trickle of blood from his mouth. Will looked up at Leya in shock as he slowly smiled, resisting the urge to smile as he realised how well a set of goggles suited her. He pulled himself to his feet and without warning enveloped Leya in a hug, a feeling of familiarity and exhaustion washed over him. For the first time since Gennai woke him, he felt as if he was somewhere he knew well.

"Guys, uh, people are kind of staring…" Elegon whispered loudly to Leya and Will, as Celemon began to laugh.

"Good to see you all getting along, Didigestined. However, we need to talk, and I especially need a word with you Will." All eyes turned to the new voice as Gennai walked towards the crowd with Alex at his side, his eyes cast away at the ground. Will's smile faded as he could see the pillar of smoke still rising to the sky from the battle, and a feeling of dread filled his entire being.

"We have much work to do."


	10. Chapter 10

And the prologue is over. Next chapter the real story line begins and the OC's begin to appear. Read, enjoy, and review.

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The small wooden barn headquarters that Leya had established was clearly never meant to hold this many people at once. Light barely trickled in between the wooden slats that made up the core of the building. Will glanced around; his shirt still annoyingly sticking to his skin, his eyes watering at the awful stench he could only assume was them. He distracted himself by attempting to scan the maps and notes that littered the room and his eyes froze on one corner in particular. He strolled over, giving no through to the others in the room and folded his arms before the collection of notes and string. The corner was literally with pictures of familiar faces, the names of locations, and some faces only Will himself should have known.

"Lisa." He muttered quietly as he came across a picture of a blonde Digidestined close to his own age. His heart sank as he realised this corner was dedicated to nothing except looking for himself and Lightmon, with every thread leading back to a picture of himself. There was a small black string leading to a fuzzy picture of a giant world with menacing and evil red orbs for eyes.

"Strikemon?" The picture showed Strikemon glaring his teeth at whoever had taken the fuzzy photo. Will studied it as best as he could, noticing the modern buildings behind Strikemon, and Strikemon's darker than usual fur. He glared at the photo, he had only met one other Strikemon but he was certain it wasn't him in the picture, the fur was too light. He could have sworn he knew the buildings in the background but couldn't make any sense of it.

"Lightmon, you know anything about this picture?" Will asked quietly but Lightmon simply shook his head, unsure of what to say. Written above the photo in thick pen read:

"Strikemon sightings- attacks- Will?" Will frowned; he really had been gone for some time, something he was becoming quickly aware of.

"She searched for you; we searched for you, for a long time. We came across some of your friends who were also seeking you." Komodomon had stalked over to Will without making a noise. Will turned and failed to come up with any sort of response, but he noticed the black sludge, dents and cracks all across Komodomon's armour. He was truly a terrifying foe to be against, seeing Komodomon in battle reminded Will of when he had first met Leya and her Digital partner nearly two years before. He remembered how he and Strikemon had jumped into a battle, around the time they met Trace, they found themselves in a shopping centre flames and he came face to face with Leya. He mentally kicked himself, remembering he had made some awful pun in an attempt to get Leya to talk to him.

"What's that picture?" Will asked as he gestured towards the fuzzy Strikemon image. Komodomon frowned and crossed his arms.

"It was a feral Strikemon; we came across him in the real world. He had caused a huge amount of destruction in a matter of days. Your friend Lisa helped us track him, although the smoking wreckages and burning houses were more than enough for signs. He was feral, and dangerous. I put him down, whoever he was." Komodomon explained it simply and bluntly. Will had a hundred questions racing into his mind. Will barely noticed the sound of heavy and fast footsteps as the door opened and without warning, found a pair of well built arms wrapped around him.

"You're still here! Good! You owe me a drink!" Elegon had raced over and ensnared Will in a hug tight enough to hurt, before slowly letting go and jabbing him in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Will could do nothing but attempt to inhale and glare at Elegon.

"That's for leaving." Elegon smiled and happily sauntered away, taking the only free chair in the room.

"Can we get this over with?" It was Trace who raised his voice from the other end of the room. Will coughed and locked eyes with him. He made a mental note to talk to Trace as soon as he could, something had rattled him, and he needed to make smooth things over. Trace didn't just return the look, but glared fiercely at Will.

"Very well, at the very least, it is a pleasure to see you all together again in one piece." Gennai quickly assumed control of the room, stepping away from Leya who was busy editing a map on the only table in the room. Gennai simply smiled at Will, and Will felt every ounce of doubt return to him. It was no coincidence they had all been in the North, it never was when Gennai was involved.

"As you may have all noticed, there is something very wrong with this continent. Each of you were sent here for a different reason, or in your case Trace, bribed. I must remember to thank Kairi when I see her next; she is very good at getting people to help." Gennai smiled as Trace sighed angrily. Gennai began to move around the room in an attempt to address everyone equally.

"This continent has been at war with itself for over a year now. There is chaos and fighting everywhere you look, and it has gone unaddressed for too long. Digimon gaining too much power, humans attempting to create power, something must be done to control and halt it." Gennai's eyes darkened as he began to recall the various reports he had read over the last year.

"Why not send the Odaiba chosen to fight for you, or just get a new bigger team? Why us?" Trace folded his arms as he waited for an answer.

"The Odaiba chosen have something brewing, something they must soon deal with, without your help. I've already sent Tai back for that reason. The five of you however, have demonstrated time and time again your ability to handle larger situations, and there is no one else who can currently handle this." Will felt his temper boil to a point of rage, if there was something threatening his friends in Odaiba he wanted to know about it. The entire reason he was a Digidestined was due to Gennai creating a team of guardians to look out for them, Will's former team specifically. He despised how Gennai spoke of fate and destiny, chance encounters, and experiences that must be handled alone. Will looked around the room and noticed almost everyone had the same reaction.

"I do believe this continent is being manipulated, and it has something to do with the virus I've asked you to look into, Will. So, in short, I need you to stop this virus, and pacify the continent." Gennai smiled gently but it quickly faded when no one in the room answered. The air was stale and it humid, Leya shook her head, whilst Will simply leaned his head back against a wall, choosing to say nothing.

"Who are the main players?" Blackwargreymon asked with his deep gravely voice, Will opened his eyes to look for Blackwargreymon whose armour helped him too easily blend in the shadows of the room. Gennai smiled gleefully as he walked over to the table, pulled the map from it and quickly pinned it to a thin wooden wall.

"We're here, at the southern most point in this town with a strong port nearby. In this region, further north from here, towns and settlements have been vanishing, left in nothing but flame. Further north is a medium sized city, you may find some allies there, or enemies, depending how you play your hand. Towards the west, there is a Digimon masquerading as a god, quickly finding supporters as they move through the region. Here along the trade routes between the four main cities of the region, there are bands of Digimon and humans raiding. Here, in the east however, is your biggest problem. There is a powerful force here that has been quickly expanding; they've reached the point where they refer to their human leader as a King, who currently controls nearly a fifth of the continent. Of course this doesn't include random gangs, murders, raiders, so on and the like." Gennai circled various points on the map and as he did do, felt the mood and morale of the room plummet.

"A human has started conquering this continent?" Blackwargreymon followed his question with a serious growl of anger.

"It's not the first time, after all Ken did it as the emperor." Leya answered bluntly, her and Elegon and their partners had been in the region for some time so this came as no surprise to them. The room remained silent once again, not a single person or Digimon made a move to break it. Leya glanced around the room, she could remember times Gennai had asked them to carry out tasks and the team would respond happily and even look forward to being together. She sighed as she saw Will with this head against the wall, he had never gotten along well with Gennai and it appeared that it would never change.

"I'm in." The silence was shattered by none other than Will who didn't even bother to open his eyes, knowing that Lightmon by his side was nodding his head in agreement.

"Why not? I'm already dead." Alex spoke up for the first time since the battle, reminding the group he was actually in the room. Alex looked away as he felt very aware that Gennai would insist he help anyway. Elegon and Leya both spoke in agreement to no one's surprise.

"No thanks." Trace said it so bluntly, and so quickly, he caught everyone off guard as he carefully and swiftly exited the room closely followed by Blackwargreymon who only looked backed and nodded. The room fell into a deathly cold silence. Will glared at the door Trace had used to leave, whilst Elegon simply stared on with his jaw hanging open. Leya lowered her head and sighed dejectedly.

"To think I was expecting it to be Will to leave…" Alex muttered in the corner. Will rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Gennai always chases me down or black mails me, or just bribes me, or just sends you lot after me! All things considered, this place actually sounds like it needs help and I have to be here anyway. I have my own things to do." Will glared venomously at Gennai who returned it with a smile and cheerful nod. Elegon sighed and pushed himself off the table he was sitting on and felt the need to get the conversation back on track.

"So I suppose first thing would be looking at where we're moving too first?" Elegon asked, partially dejected despite his best attempts to appear positive.

"Oh no, not this time. You will all be operating from this wonderfully growing town!" Gennai smiled as his pointed at the town's location on the map. Will raised an eyebrow out of curiosity; typically Gennai had them constantly moving from place to place. Gennai looked around the room at the reactions and flanked up at the ceiling before shutting his eyes, clearly annoyed.

"You know Digidestined, you should all read your history. There is a very good reason Leya was asked to protect this town. This was the final place the original five Digidestined came too. Somewhere underneath this town is where they finally lay down their Digivices, relics, and who else knows what before they left this Digital world." Gennai smiled devilishly, little was known of the Digidestined who came before the Odaiba chosen except they were the first heroes who sealed away evil behind the wall of flames.

"You don't know where it is?" Lightmon asked, choosing to look away from the notice board and picture of the rogue Strikemon.

"Those Digidestined were here long before Alex, and even Gennai were alive as digital beings. Whatever is locked away under the town must not fall into the wrong hands. " Leya stood and folded her arms, stating the information in a matter of fact tone that made Will laugh. He had similar tales of deadly digital items before but this time he simply accepted it.

"So basically…this town is like our base? Awesome!" Elegon laughed, grateful to have a central location for a change. Will leaned his head back and shut his eyes; it had been a long couple of days with a lot to process. He had been gone for months only to be suddenly woken up and told to go find some deadly virus. He had punched Trace to steal back his own Digivice, essentially been kidnapped by Alex, climbed a mountain to investigate the virus, reunited with his old team in an unexpectedly short battle, and now here he was listening to the others plan and debate the next move. His thoughts raced from point to point as he felt his joints ache and muscles burn from fatigue and it suddenly hit him. He hadn't been home in months, and he could feel it. He felt as if he had been working for the entire time he was gone, like waking up after an awful night's sleep. He just barely heard Lightmon yawn next to him, the past couples of days hadn't just been rough on Will but his partner too.

"Will? What do you think?" Will wasn't sure who had asked for his opinion. He had only half listened to the conversation and had missed many of the details. He opened his tired eyes and looked around the room before looking at Lightmon and nodded, as Lightmon rubbed his tired eyes and sat against the wall.

"I'm…going to go back to my flat for a while, and then I'm going to drag Trace back here after talking some sense into him." Will stood and checked his Digivice was still attached.

"Since when do you two talk about things?" Leya asked comically.

"You're right, we'll probably punch each other."

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If anyone wishes to know the story of Lisa and the feral Strikemon, please check out Megabalstdragons awesome new story.


	11. Chapter 11

Apologies but once again I was out of the country. Enjoy the chapter, and review with your thoughts. I'll have the next one out soon.

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Will stepped out into the daylight of the Digital town and made his way to the stone wall at the edge and he leaned on it, sighing heavily. His eyes had never felt as heavy as he glanced out across the surrounding area, spotting the black smoke tower still rising into the sky. There was no packing to do, none of his gear needed to come back to the real world so he had opted to leave everything in the town with Leya. Lightmon had claimed he had something to take care of and wouldn't be long. A gentle breeze blew through the town as various people and Digimon had begun to work on fixing the town around Will. He turned to look up at the mountain in the distance and felt unnerved, he was sure he could see some of the black virus data begin to spread across the snowy peak. He couldn't waste too much time in the real world, he would have to come back and deal with it quickly.

"You're coming back right?" Will turned in the opposite direction to see Leya walking rapidly towards him.

"Of course, I'm just going to go-" Before Will could finish Leya cut him off as she jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Of course? You were trying to sneak away in the crowd! You literally just got back and you tried to run! Where have you even been?" Leya was furious, Will's eyes widened as she began to jab her finger further into his chest. He gingerly tried to push the finger away only for Leya to jab harder.

"I just wanted some quiet! It's been a busy few days believe it or not." Will's eyes narrowed, he was tired, and sore, and this was doing nothing for his patience.

"You gave me the reigns of the battle; you ignored the plan, and tried to take off. Why should I trust you're coming back this time?!" Will sighed angrily and pushed himself forward.

"Says the girl who can summon a katana! That's not a normal thing for a Digidestined!" Will noticed a number of people turn to look at them as he raised his voice.

"You're the one who came back from the dead apparently!" Leya growled which only caused Will to smile wickedly, he had missed Leya more than he thought, even if she was jabbing a finger into his chest over and over almost as if to make sure he was real.

"For the last time, I wasn't dead. I got stuck in a digital gate and Alex and Gennai had to retrieve me. I don't get it myself, one minute I was in the Dark Ocean, in the middle of a fight, the next I woke up in some weird cyber punk chapel!" Leya rolled her eyes as she shook her head and moved over to the wall, carefully resting on it as she stared out into the distance. Will narrowed his eyes slightly, her shoulders had more scars than he remembered and there was something off about her back, something that wasn't quite right as light washed over it. He shut his eyes and placed a hand over them, they were sore and without a doubt bloodshot, he was probably imagining things.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't choose to vanish-"

"We searched for you. I searched for you." Leya cut him off again without turning to face him. Will frowned as he began to count her new scars; he slowly understood how long he had been gone as guilt began to slowly grow. It wasn't just Leya he needed to talk too however, he looked away towards the small building he had come from that housed his friends and their partners. He ran a hand through his hair, hoping he could at least repair some of the friendships.

"The gate was in the Dark Ocean?" Leya asked bluntly without turning.

"Yeah, it was just at the edge of the battlefield. I had pushed some kid out of the way of a blow and Alex grabbed me. Apparently I was bleeding and needed help but underneath the floor of the ancient building we passed through was a gate I fell into." Will shrugged, the events were foggy at best to him as he recited what Alex and Gennai had told him.

"You don't remember?" Leya tuned her head, barely allowing Will into her field of vision.

"No. The last thing I remember was being hit instead of the kid; everything gets a bit foggy after that. I just remember it being very cold. " Will folded his arms and didn't take his eyes from Leya.

"That doesn't sound like a gate. We should look into it when we get some time." Will laughed quietly; she was as professional as ever even in this situation. He could see her thinking and planning, how they were going to proceed in the next couple of days. Whatever had happened whilst he was gone, she had stepped up.

"Fine. Go do what you need too in the real world, and get Trace back here. He hasn't been the same since you left. You better come back or I will hunt you down." Leya turned and locked eyes with Will, he could see she meant it.

"Again, I didn't choose –"Her eyes narrowed and a chill ran down Will's spine.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Will held his hands in the air and turned to look.

"I'll be back this time!" Without turning Will gave a small flick of his hand and began to head off to meet Lightmon. Leya didn't move, her eyes never leaving Will as he headed back towards the small barn like building. Quietly, Komodomon glided out of the shadows to stand beside her.

"You didn't tell him about Lucas." Komodmon said calmly, he was intrigued with the situation.

"Those two should meet on their own accord." Leya answered simply, remembering her time travelling with Lucas, the boy Will had saved without even realising in the Dark Ocean.

"We're going to follow him to Odaiba aren't we?" Komodomon answered with a slight cheer to his voice. Leya nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, but only after we take care of things here. We're making sure he comes back this time."

* * *

His head was spinning, that was the only way Elegon could ever describe that feeling. Life as a Digidestined was always a complicated one, especially for those in the service of Gennai.

"Do you think his return could be an omen of sorts?" Celemon floated gracefully in the air, barely even needing to use her wings as she spoke to her partner who had chosen to escape to the roof of the tallest building in the town. The air washing over him usually helped relax and clam him, but he could see the smoke tower rising, a black stain across snow capped mountains, and an awful feeling in his gut that was something was very wrong. He had not cared which building it was, he simply wanted to be high enough to be left alone to enjoy the wind.

"Could well be. He's our friend, but you just don't vanish into a gate and come back. There's something wrong about his story." Elegon mused on the recent events with difficulty. Truthfully after hearing about Will vanishing with no reason, he had lost some energy. He reclined back against the roof of the building and shut his eyes, his mind drifting back to the memories of how he had decided to travel and visit friends across the states.

"No one has seen him till now except Gennai and Alex. It's not like Alex has been rushing to help us recently. Always claiming he must attend to his higher purpose, yet here he is, with Will in tow." Celemon folded her arms as her eyes scanned far into the distance. Elegon sighed; he wanted to sooth the feeling of doubt but had no plan. He couldn't just confront Gennai, and Alex could just teleport away.

"Lightmon's changed too. His mega form is completely different. If nothing else that hints at the fact his data changed. Maybe Will's did too…" Elegon's voice drifted off as he opened his eyes to the sound of something rustling nearby but took no real note of it. He had originally been thrilled at the prospect of working with his old team, all of them, but something had since unsettled him. He had overheard parts of Will and Leya's conversation but Leya was right, they were needed in this region first. His mind drifted back to a brief time where he had travelled with another Digidestined and he had come across Leya and her own rag tag group looking for Will in the months gone by. The last months had not been easy on any them and from the sounds of it, things were only going to get more difficult if they were forced to work together again.

"I am glad our friends are back though. It is a small victory we should enjoy." Celemon flexed her wings, letting the wind move through them and ruffle them and without missing a beat she turned as her hand erupted in a white flame that summoned her bow.

"Speak or be shot!" Her voice was low and dangerous as Elegon jumped to his feet and turned to come face to face with a woman near his own age standing only a few feet away. She wore plain blue jeans that hugged her toned legs well, and a loose shirt that was just undone enough for Elegon to accidentally let his eyes trail down. She was easily taller than him, but his eyes fell to her red and green Digivice that was shaped like a diamond. He frowned; she had a unique Digivice like himself and the others, so she had been chosen for some reason.

"Easy now, I only came to talk. Would I really just outright attack one of Gennai's chosen?" She waved away at Celemon, never taking her eyes away from ELegon. Even her voice was sultry and pleasant to listen too, even if the statement had been anything but straight forward.

"Who are you?" Elegon asked bluntly. He could already tell she was not to be taken lightly; she was confident and sure of herself. There was no sign of her Digimon partner yet she was confident enough to approach them without any fear, on top of a building.

"My name is Emma Carver, and I want your help of course." Emma folded her arms and smiled as a large purple armoured Digimon slowly floated up behind her with golden wings, and heavily armoured body parts.

"This is my partner Tyrantkabuterimon, and we'd like to kill a Digimon lord with you."

* * *

Under the glow of a heavily blinding light Will and Lightmon crashed across the floor as they violently emerged from a Digital gate, back to their apartment. They were both panting for breath hard.

"You good?" Will managed to get out between gasping for air as he looked at Lightmon who coughed violently. He had neglected how long he had really been in the Digital world. The longer they were there, the more violent the return home was. Lightmon was always better at recovering from returning to the real world after a long time as he quickly pulled himself together and headed off towards the kitchen of the small apartment. Will continued to cough as Lightmon handed him a small bottle of water. His throat burned badly and he felt his muscles begin to attempt to work for what felt like the first time in months. His eyes struggled to deal with the light of the room. His entire body was on fire as exhaustion began to hit him hard.

"I'm going to go lie down." Lightmon said wearily, Will simply nodded as he pulled himself to his feet. Lightmon slowly headed off into the all too familiar room they shared. Will rubbed his eyes a few number of times before everything truly came into vision. Will strolled over to the mantle and glanced across the photos he had decorated the room with and as he passed the one of his original team, he partially saluted and his joints burnt badly from lack of use in the real world. He stretched carefully, hoping not to fall apart in the process. His eyes caught himself in the mirror briefly.

"What the hell?" He was dressed well, crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the collar unbuttoned, perfectly straight black trousers held up with a black leather belt and polished silver buckle. He slowly ran a hand down the fabric of the shirt; he struggled to come up with an answer as his memory felt fuzzy in the days leading up to his time in the digital gate. He turned towards the kitchen where he kept a small board that was filled to the brim with notes. His footsteps echoed on the hard wood floor as he realised he was wearing black leather dress shoes.

"Pick up…oh." Will stopped suddenly as he pulled off a note from the board telling him to pick up a girl whose name he couldn't quite attach a face too. Turns out he had once again missed a date thanks to the Digital world.

"Guess she isn't talking to me now." Will grinned slightly, that would be something to fix down the road. His eyes trailed to the note next to it.

"Call Yolei?" Will frowned, his memory was too fuzzy in the weeks leading up to the Digital gate, but it was something Gennai had promised would clear up eventually by itself. He strolled slowly to the back doors that led out onto a balcony with a view of Odaiba itself. It was louder than he remembered and it hurt to listen to it so he chose to retreat back towards a sofa. He allowed himself to crash down as he leaned back against the sofa back of the sofa. He felt broken and did not resist the feeling of sleep that overcame him. Hours passed and nothing in the apartment moved or made a single noise except for the clock on the mantle that continued to tick over. Without making a sound a figure slowly pulled itself from the shadows, his black cloak slowly dragging along the floor. His white mask barely moved as he breathed and approached the sleeping Digidestined on the sofa.

"I have been watching you for some time, cursed one." His voice was little more than a whisper as he approached Will. He stretched out a single hand as his golden eyes slowly studied Will's form. His finger tip was dangerously close to Will's head as he slowly withdrew it.

"It is not your time yet." Carefully, and quietly, the figure backed away into a shadow, leaving no trace he was ever there.

* * *

Credit to "An Anon Fellow" for the OC Emma Carver.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry for the delay again, but here is the next chapter.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to fight? We could help that region." Blackwargreymon marched slowly beside his partner through an area filled with tress made entirely from blue bricks and crossed wires. Trace and Blackwargreymon had located the nearest terminal nearby after they agree sometime in the real world would be beneficial to them both.

"There's no need, there are more than enough warriors in the world." Trace said bluntly and with little patience for the topic, almost quickening his pace to walk away from the conversation as his tattered cloak slowly dusted the floor.

"There are only a few people in the town willing to fight. We should help." Blackwargreymon easily kept pace with the American Digidestined. Trace rolled his eyes in response. He had withdrawn from fighting when he had been informed his friend had "died", he had made peace with the decision to pay respects to other fallen Digidestined, and to create a peaceful resting area for others.

"You don't even want to make Will pay for what he did?" Blackwargreymon growled, truthfully he wished for a match against Zeed Strikemon. Trace turned his head away, thinking back to how Will had been the figure in white to steal back his own broken Digivice. Trace felt his anger grow, it was just like Will to attempt to not involve the team in whatever stupid thing he was doing. He was dead. He had thought his friend was dead. He had mourned for his friend, they all had, or so he thought. It was clear different people had been told different things, but the real question on Trace's mind was why didn't Alex or Gennai trust him enough to tell him in the first place? Trace paused on the spot and turned, looking back to the town. He could always go back, confront them, and fight them to force an answer out.

"Come on! You know you want too!" Blackwargreymon bellowed, urging Trace to act.

"You were given a Digivice and crest to act! Not hide away when you're lost for an answer!" Blackwargreymon pumped his chest with his armour covered fist which caught Trace's attention.

"There are many ways to use a crest and Digivice." Trace answered simply. If he was going to go against Gennai, he would have to be careful; he would also be going against the likes of Azulongmon if he wasn't careful about how he handled it.

"I can see you're tempted! Admit it! You enjoyed that fight back there with the others!" Blackwargreymon had enjoyed the fight more than he could put into words, the rush of adrenaline, the chaos of a battle, the destruction towards a good end, he felt at home in that environment alongside his partner. Trace continued to look back, his friend was back, the team was back, and there was a new threat. He wanted to be part of it. He wanted to face down a new adventure with them.

"We can do more than just fight." Trace answered automatically, his mind trailing back to how Will crashed into him midflight. There it was however, that sinking and all enveloping fear that washed over him as simply as the wind. What if it went wrong? What if someone got hurt? What if he lost someone again?

"There will be times we have to fight, we should make those count." Trace began to walk ahead again, aiming for the digital gate nearby. Blackwargreymon growled quietly in annoyance but decided to trust Trace.

"You want to do something big don't you?" Blackwargreymon asked bluntly. Trace nodded, he wanted answers, but he also wanted a plan.

"Yeah. It may not be a fight, but it'll be interesting. We do need to prepare at home first." Blackwargreymon paused.

"Prepare for what?" He asked as he began to keep pace with Trace again.

"We're going to break into Alex's digital tower."

* * *

"I told you it was a trap!" Alex mocked as he and Elegon had their backs against a hard cold stone wall. Neoflamedramon and Celemon dare not move as they scanned the shadows of the ruins they had been led too by none other than Emma Carver, the girl who had come to call for help.

"Save the lecture for later." Elegon muttered quietly as he slowly began to unbuckle his leather jacket to allow for more freedom to move, he had no doubt they were going to have to fight their out of this.

"You just had to meet these rebels! I just couldn't let you go alone!" Alex exaggerated the sentence, almost mocking Elegon's sense of justice in the process. Celemon slowly moved to have more room to draw her bow at the figures standing before them. There were numerous humans and Digimon hiding throughout the building. Emma and Tyrant Kabuterimon had led them to this old, creaking, and outright derelict building made of stone in the middle of nowhere. As they entered, the lights had burst into existence, blinding Elegon and Alex, as figures began to emerge.

"I must apologise, I didn't want to lie but it certainly got you boys to follow. I was hoping for a bigger audience but the two of you will do." Emma spoke confidently and without flinching as more figures began to emerge to back her up at the rear of the room. Each one was cloaked or hidden in a shadow, preferring to keep their faces and Digimon hidden away.

"Take down a Digimon lord he said. Make new allies and create progress he said." Alex muttered to himself. Elegon had broached the idea of working with another team to help stabilise the region to Leya and the others, but only Alex was willing to go with him to the meeting.

"Oh as if you haven't led us into worse situations! Remember London? You got us trapped inside a train!" Elegon bit back but never took his eyes off the people before him. Tyrantkabuterimon floated nearby, flexing his claws and bracing himself to charge forward against Elegon, with the small lights shining across his purple metal armour.

"My god you two are like a married couple." Emma rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed.

"I really must question just what Gennai was thinking he chose the two of you. One of you is a friendly idiot, and the other, just some dead kid." Emma's facial expression barely changed as she vented her frustration of having to travel with Elegon and Alex for the past day.

"You know Gennai?" Alex asked, barely even phased by the insult.

"Don't say that like you're complimenting her, you'll give her ideas." Celemon bit back harshly, her hands itching to reach for arrows.

"Every team of chosen knows about Gennai." A male voice rang out from the figure standing closest to Emma and Tyrantkabuterimon.

"You're a chosen team?" Elegon asked quietly, choosing his words carefully so his anger didn't show. Emma laughed cruelly.

"Oh you're so naïve. You think Gennai was the only Digital being to create a team in the last few years?"  
"Emma, get to the point, we are all so very bored of this already." A third voice chimed in clearly fed up with the proceedings. Emma sighed and rolled her eyes, her fun clearly ruined.

"We're a team of chosen, just likes yours, except better in every way. Thing is, we were on our way to help that little town of yours and get rid of Beelzemon but then we noticed you! The heroic five! A team of drop outs, cynics, and people who just won't die. I never did understand why you guys wanted to enjoy a celebrity status." Emma mused over their team, various Digidestined knew of them and their stories which she just couldn't understand, it was so much easier to work unnoticed if no one knew who you were.

"Long story short, we're the team that runs this region. By appointment of Darius, we assist the Digimon King in bringing in more regions peacefully to create a truly stable country." The first male voice perked up again.

"Darius?" Alex asked curiously. The name meant almost nothing to him and it bothered him greatly.

"Oh do keep up, the Digital being that helped us come together." Emma spat back bluntly.

"Basically your team are getting a choice. Join us and work with us, or we come for you and expel you from the North permanently." The male voice spoke up again.

"You have a week to decide."

* * *

The city had changed, but he always said that whenever he came back to Odaiba. Will carefully walked the streets of Odaiba, still wearing the clothes from the day before. His Digivice had exploded into life telling him a giant gate had opened somewhere downtown. Will paused by a small alley way and peered down to spot two red eyes staring back at him. Strikemon shook his head and growled, heading further along in the darkness. Strikemon had been unable to pick up a scent and was quickly growing frustrated.

"Where the hell is it?" Will muttered to himself. It was good to see Odaiba this busy, the last couple of times he had been there were the months following the siege. The city had been in ruins, people lined the street with injuries, and doctors had worked in the streets to help people. Will glanced around, looking up at the various high rise towers and business buildings, and bars that lined the streets. People walked around and shopped, and drank, as if there had never been a siege. Will smiled, happy to see there had been no lasting damage. His heart sank as his eyes came across some graffiti.

"Down with the Digidestined." Will read it to himself quietly. There on the wall was a giant red X and various slurs. Maybe there was some lasting damage after all.

"Lovely day for a stroll isn't it? You picked up the signal too didn't you?" Gennai slowly made his way next to Will through the crowds of people. Will turned and noticed he was wearing a light grey suit, making the two of them appear more like businessmen than a Digital being and a Digidestined.

"Yeah. No idea what or where it is. There's no sign of it." Will stated simply as he took a quick look at his Digivice, he supposed he was fortunate his Digivice looked more like a phone these days.

"This is troubling." Gennai placed his hands behind his back and his eyes fell upon the small crest that hung from Will's neck, still wrapped in leather.

"You haven't looked at your new crest yet." Gennai said bluntly. Will's heart skipped a beat.

"We already know which crest it is." Will replied as he cast his eyes down the alley again, no sign of Strikemon's red eyes this time.

"Your time for your duty is approaching." Gennai said sadly. Will turned and nodded, casting his eyes away.

"How long?" Will asked quietly. Gennai shut his eyes and hummed a small tune to himself.

"A year, or less, would be my guess." Gennai answered simply. Will felt exhausted all of a sudden, he had not informed anyone else yet of what was coming in a year. Gennai referred to it as his duty, Will himself preferred the term curse.

"All because you had to save that child." Gennai mused quietly, as various people walked between them heading down the street.

"That child is called Lucas, and no one deserves to die like that." Will answered sternly as he glared at Gennai. Gennai simply held his hands up.

"Each to their own, but you know as well as I do, there is a war coming we must prepare for. You and I both have plenty to do before your duty comes to a conclusion. You should enjoy your time here in Odaiba, I'll handle the signal." With that Gennai smiled, bowed, and turned and walked away leaving Will to contemplate his words. For once, he had to agree with Gennai.

The journey back was quiet, with Will visiting small shops and picking up food, along with Strikemon sticking to the shadows which became easier as night descended. Will felt at home as the cold air gently washed over the city, he could feel how long he had been gone and it physically hurt him. His body still hurt and the headache he had was only just beginning to fade away.

"I'll let myself in the balcony window." Strikemon growled quietly so only Will would hear, as he passed a small dark alley near his apartment building. Will would never understand just how a wolf climbed a building and managed to get into his apartment. Will made his way up to his apartment, his head in his thoughts of just how he was going to approach the Odaiba Digidestined. He had no idea what to say. Should he call them for a meeting? Or a picnic? Perhaps he could just invite them round and have dinner. He paused for a moment; this was all of course assuming they wanted to see him again. Will paused at the corner of his floor, he could just stay away, and he could vanish again. Something felt wrong in the pit of his stomach at the idea. He paused and put an ear up against his door. Somehow someone was in his apartment, carefully and quietly he let himself in and paused instantly.

"Sora?" He asked in disbelief, there before him stood the auburn haired Digidestined with a key in her hand. His jaw hung low and he froze, he wasn't prepared for this in the slightest as she began to walk towards to him.

"Why do you have a key to my apartment?" Were the only words he could manage before she punched him.


	13. Chapter 13

A chapter on time? Shocking. Remember to check out the other stories in the Networks group from, Megablastdragon, Elegon, and Etiger1995. I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

"So you weren't dead?"

"Not dead."

"You were trapped in a digital gate?"

"Yes."

"And now you work with the others again, to try and help restore peace in part of the Digital world?"

"Exactly."

"And you've only been back for the last week or so?"

"Crazy right?" Sora seemed to be taking the news well, although Will found himself having to repeat it often to just to reassure her he hadn't actually died.

"Tai knows as well?" Will froze partially at the question. He was halfway through pouring a glass of some alcohol he had found in his fridge. It annoyed him at how little he felt his apartment had, despite having attempted to restock it only a few hours ago.

"Yeah, Tai knows, but he's dealing with Trace at the moment in America. I'm going to join him soon, try and smooth things out."

"Do you ever stop?" Sora asked suddenly and sharply. Will looked up and locked eyes with her, unsure of what she meant. She was learning on the back of the leather sofa, she had been facing the wall as she pieced together everything Will had mentioned, one hand slowly draping onto the sofa to stroke the back of Lightmon's head.

"What?" Will asked quietly as he moved his attention to the glass of alcohol as he rapidly drank from it, enjoying the burning in his throat.

"You're barely back from some Digital prison, you run off to a battle, now you're trying to bring back team members to restore peace! Have you even thought about the damage that was done to you in that gate? Or how you're supposed to repair your friendships!" Sora was never one to hold her opinion back against Will. Her words however filled Will with a pang of guilt. For a moment he considered telling her what was only to be spoken between himself and Gennai. He could tell her everything about why he and Alex had gone to the Dark Ocean, something Leya and the others had no idea of yet.

"I start as I mean to go on, working hard on each of those." He lied and he did it with his infamous smirk. It burned a hole in him. He couldn't tell anyone just yet, not until he knew the full effect of what he had done. Sora huffed angrily at the sight of his smirk. The two stood in silence for a moment as Will stepped slowly across the room, offering Sora the other glass he had filled. It was not an awkward or painful silence. It was a silence between two friends that had known each other through hard times.

"Funny to think, if Gennai had never asked me to go and help you and Tai, We'd never have met." Will thought back on the simple request that had been asked of him years ago. Go and rescue two of the Odaiba chosen and vanish. It was never that simple.

"Instead we ended up helping you." Sora replied casually. She was not wrong.

"Hey now, I got you out of that prison…just." Will had to admit it had been a rather close call. It had been a meeting that was coming for some time. The entire reason Gennai had created Will's team was to watch over other Digidestined, and he did the job well until he came into contract with the Odaiba chosen. A small bettering against the window shattered the silence in a thunderous crash.

"What the hell is that?" Will muttered as he took another drink.

"Hailstone. It's been plaguing Odaiba for days." Sora replied drily, clearly fed up of the never ending banging of hailstone. Will frowned, it was the middle of summer. Erratic weather in Odaiba was never a good sign.

* * *

Trace muttered to himself. He had already been home for nearly two days now and yet still had not seen anyone. Blackwargreymon was beginning to badger him about plans and actually taking action. Trace slowly walked down the street in the sunny American city. Trace looked over himself and muttered, perhaps combat trousers and a red polo shirt was too much? Or was it too little? Regardless, he had to let her know he was in town. That was the problem though; he had to talk to her.

"Totally professional. Just talking to the American Digidestined." Trace muttered to himself. At his height Trace was the leader of the American Digidestined, he had been one of the first Americans to become a Digidestined and as a result trained many of the new Digidestined. His decision to turn his back on fighting however had not gone down well, and he had since been replaced. His concern wasn't with regaining control, but seeing her again. Trace rounded the corner and saw the makeshift headquarters for the American Digidestined.

"Home, sweet bizarre and caffeine filled home." There it was, just outside the middle of the centre of the city, a run down and rusty coffee shop almost no one used to the point it was a miracle it stayed open. It was almost as if Gennai was funding it from a fake bank account to keep it open. Trace let himself in through the red rotating door to the darkened coffee shop and the aroma of coffee and caffeine hit him. Chairs and tables were littered all over the shop floor with only a few bar stools near a counter, it was for all intensive purposes a run down and darkened coffee shop. Trace paced through the shop to the back door and quickly headed up the metal steps. The shop was unsettlingly quiet; there was always at least another customer or Digidestined in the shop especially on colder days like today but silence was all that met Trace. Trace passed by the storage room, and headed for a second door further down a well lit corridor and let himself in.

"It's…cleaner." He commented quietly. The room was filled with desks that were littered in notes, and books, and pictures of various Digital locations. Multiple computers were dotted around the room with Digital gates open and ready to use on them, post it notes with coordinates were all over the monitors, and there at the back was a small case of weapons Trace had made for the American Digidestined. The case was a fair size, each corner had its own metal clasp and was polished to a high sheen, but it looked as if it hadn't even been used. His eyes were caught however by the giant map on the wall behind the door, covered in pins, red string, various marks and notes. His jaw fell open as a wave of guilt crashed into him.

"They were looking for Will too." Trace ran his hand over various notes discussing the sightings of a rabid Strikemon, next to it was a picture of Leya, but he dropped his head when he saw the upper part of the map. The upper part was the North region of the Digital World; the American Digidestined had been working in the North several miles away from the town where Leya and Elegon were.

"You guys have been busy." Trace muttered sadly to himself. Without warning a second person had entered the room, luckily for Trace the door obscured him and for a brief moment she had no idea he was there. His heart raced harder than when he was in a battle at the sight of her sun kissed tan and short black hair, which stood out against her crisp white shirt. She removed her sunglasses to reveal that her eyes were bluer than he remembered. She moved gracefully and with purpose to a computer, quickly scrawling down a note before attaching it to a monitor. Her hands flew across the keyboard as she prepared an email, and all Trace could do was stand there. He had to do or say something; there was no way he could escape from this room without her noticing.

"Jessie, hey." It was simple but she turned with a start, her eyes wide with a shock that very rapidly fell into pits of rage. She said nothing at first but glared at him as he slowly raised a hand to wave. Maybe he should have dressed better after all.

"I…" Trace started but failed to find any words to follow. There before him stood his girlfriend Jessie Williams, one of the senior American Digidestined, they had been through thick and thin together. She wouldn't allow him to finish a sentence however.

"Get out. Now." Her voice was stern and sharp, not to be questioned. Traced opened his jaw to speak but nothing would come out; he sighed and proceeded to leave the bizarre coffee shop. Perhaps ex-girlfriend was the appropriate term now.

* * *

One could be blamed for thinking it was a quiet night in Odaiba, there were no street parties, no fireworks, people were just nowhere to be seen. Matt was surprised there were so few people as he raced along the edge of the river, his eyes never leaving the water except to make sure he wasn't going to run into a pole or something.

"We need to get him!" Matt called out. In the middle of the river, in the darkness of the night, his partner raced across the water. Metalgarurumon was in hot pursuit or a very fast Digimon that had breached into Odaiba only hours ago.

"Ice wolf blast!" A stream of ice erupted up out of the water which the metal wolf gracefully flew around. His target appeared to be nothing more than a giant gangly black humanoid figure with a white mask that said nothing. Matt and his partner had come across it when it was terrorising an ice cream van, lifting it easily into the air before hurtling it across the road and taking off. It was fast, too fast, it was able to run across the water without any issues and stay out of Metalgarurumon's fangs with ease. Matt's legs were burning; they had been chasing this thing all over the city. A further hail of missiles missed their mark leaving nothing but towering floating chucks of ice in the river.

"I'm getting real bored of this!" Metalgarururmon growled viciously. Without warning the black Digital figure leapt onto a small island and began to twist itself between the trees, constantly darting out of the way of Metalgarurumon and easily avoiding any and all attacks.

"What's with this guy?" Matt asked as he closed in on the island, his face dripping with sweat. He would never get his answer as without warning a large knight Digimon crashed into the island on top of the black figure, lightning erupting from his entire body. The trees were pushed back and for a brief moment the water had lit up in a terrifying pale light. From the distance it would look as if a bolt of lightning had struck the island, but up close it did nothing except create a terrifying illumination of the island and the knight. Metalgarurumon leapt back onto the water's surface and bared his teeth, unsure of the new arrival that was literally crackling with lightning as the data of the black figure floated away, leaving only a deformed white mask.

"Who are you?" Matt yelled out. The knight did not respond, his fists still clenched as lightning ran all over his armour, it crackled loudly as he kept his eyes on Matt. Everything froze in that moment, Matt and Metalgarurumon had not been ready for this. The knight oozed power and if there was a fight, it would not be a small one.

"Whoa, easy! It's a long story but he's on your side Matt!" Matt turned at the sound of the voice but there was no way. His eyes froze as Will and Sora ran towards him. His eyes quickly darted back and forth between the two.

"That's Zeed Strikemon, in other words it's Lightmon!" Will stopped just short of Matt and smiled. His eyes went past him however, his eyes trained on the mask of the figure that was left behind. Clearly it had something to do with the virus in the Digital world, and the fact it had made it to the real world left a horrible pit of sickness in Will's stomach. His eyes returned to Matt, deciding to handle the virus issue later. He was grateful to see his old friend. Without hesitating Matt swung his fist and it connected nearly with Will's jaw, knocking him back.

"Son of a-" Will made a mental note, maybe not everyone was happy to see him.


	14. Chapter 14

Three chapters on time in a row? Something must be wrong. Read, enjoy, and review. Let me know what you guys think.

* * *

"Yeah, one of those virus things appeared here in Odaiba. Matt was hunting it down. It seemed stronger than the ones we've see." Will spoke quietly in a hushed ton as he held the phone to his ear on the small balcony of the apartment that most certainly wasn't his. It was far too early with the sun barely beginning to rise above the horizon and an ice cold wind passed through the city with ease. He could feel his head pounding as a result of one too many drinks the night before, his eyes sore and raw.

"That's worrying. Any signs of a gate?" Alex's voice came from the other end of the phone but his voice was calm and collected. Will turned his head to look back into Matt's apartment, momentarily distracted by the snoozing Digidestined and Digimon nearby.

"Nothing at all. I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't seen Metalgarurumon gliding under a bridge last night." Will answered simply, struggling to put his brain back into the right gear, he wasn't even sure if the cold wind was helping anymore or not.

"Must be a breech nearby or perhaps the virus originated from the real world…" Alex's voice trailed off, becoming slightly less calm as he listed off all the possible reasons Will had already suspected himself. Alex's voice became little more than a rushed symphony of syllables as he began to delve into various details of the Digital world Will would never understand.

"Sure." Will agreed blindly to some new plan Alex muttered about. Will's eyes fell across the sleeping Digidestined he had woken up next to on a sofa, she must have turned towards him in the night as he woke up facing her. Sora continued to sleep peacefully, whilst Matt had fallen asleep with his hand propping up his head, after one too many drinks. Will had spent a small fortune forcing Matt to sit down and listen to what had happened in an attempt to clear things up, only for the small group to end up in a bar and far too drunk when they eventually made it back to Matt's. It had been a chaotic few days in Odaiba as word of his return had spread.

"I assume someone's told you about this new group of Digidestined and Gennai rip off threatening us?" Alex asked, suddenly breaking his train of thought. Will sighed in response; he had received an email from Leya detailing the new complication. Will shut his eyes and used his other hand to slowly rub at them, never before had so many complications emerged in such a short frame of time.

"You mean how Elegon met a girl and it didn't go well?" Will said with a smirk. His eyes didn't leave Sora throughout the conversation. In time gone by they had become close, very close, but something in the recent few days had left their closeness lacking. It was an odd and abrupt change to Will, but he figured Sora must have felt it too over the months he had not been around. There had been a time various Digidestined had attempted to set them up, but Will rolled his eyes, the time for that had passed and he felt comfortable with that. There was a silence over the phone for a moment as something made Will's blood run cold, the air had picked up becoming a violent gale and in the distance was a mighty crack.

"There's a Digital gate opening near you." Alex had barely finished the sentence as the sound a second almighty crack echoed across the city, but this time it was accompanied by a sinister golden flash.

"I'm on it." Will shut the phone call down before quickly rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and fishing his Digivice out of his pocket.

* * *

"It's around here somewhere, you feel anything?" Will asked quietly to the giant white wolf beside him. They had tracked the signal down to the local area still being rebuilt after the siege. Strikemon growled quietly.

"Something is off about this place." Will had to agree, it was deserted. There were no builders, no people, not a single person, and it was painfully quiet. They rounded a corner to a large open courtyard and Will froze, there before them was the monument he had avoided seeing. It was a large stone white pillar with the word "hope" engraved at the top in various languages that seemed to stretch to the sky. Stretching down the pillar were the names of every single person to die during the siege, be it a Digidestined, or policemen, firemen, and so on. Will had never wanted to see that list; he claimed he never needed to because he carried it with him.

"The siege wasn't your fault." Strikemon spoke softly. The siege had been created by a Digimon named Alpha Strikemon, a Digimon who attempted to overthrow the sovereigns and take supreme control of the Digital world.

"We failed to stop him so many times." Will muttered quietly. He and Strikemon had come across Alpha Strikemon and had lost every single time.

"Death just seems to follow you doesn't it?" Will and Strikemon turned to the source of the horribly smooth voice. The man was no taller than Will, but he was clad head to toe in a tattered cloak held together in parts by various buckles and leather bands. Putrid bloody brown leather boots ran up to his knee that looked more befitting of a musketeer, whilst he chose heavy black leather waistcoat and a plain white shirt to finish his bizarre modern day musketeer look. Various belts hung from his waist to finish off the bizarre look. The lower half of his face was covered with a pure white mask, leaving only his golden eyes and pitch black hair visible under a heavy black hood.

"Who are you?" Will asked cautiously. The man stood near several large shadows cast by the buildings that seemed much darker and deeper than any natural shadow could be.

"I wonder how many have died for you, how many have died because of you…" His voice trailed off, his eyes almost lighting up at the conversation. No one made a move and those few seconds felt they lasted an eternity.

"What do you want?" Will asked tentatively as he scanned the area, looking for a Digimon.

"So many things locked away in that head of yours, so many lies that have been fed to you. It's simple really, I want you to remember. I need you to remember." His voice turned sinister and slower, but still smooth as he stretched his arms out and looked up towards the sky, almost basking in the shadows. Quickly it began to grow darker, not hugely, but enough to notice the sudden change. Will said nothing, choosing to ignore the comment about memory loss. He suspected he'd have the answers to his own doubts sooner or later; his main concern however was this person in front of him.

"If Alex is the child of life, I suppose it is appropriate to call me a denizen of death. You may call me, death." Death laughed for a moment before stepping back into the shadows, almost being completely consumed by them only for another figure to emerge. A very tall lanky figure with extended limbs emerged from the shadows, covered head to toe in warped and twisted white armour that seemed to devolve into wisps of white fabric that flowed off of him. The tall pale twisted knight slowly rose up to his full height and what little light bounced off a pale gold cracked crown on top of his helmet, the two items almost fusing together to create his face, if it could be called that. With two quick movements the figure summoned two long twisting blades to his hands coated in a pale red fire that slowly and quietly floated away from the steel.

"Digivolve now!" Will turned to his partner Strikemon but in the blink of an eye before Strikemon could react, the knight had charged over at incredible speed and kicked the wolf in the midsection with enough force to launch Strikemon backwards into another building, shattering the glass as Strikemon skidded across the floor. In a split second his partner had been launched through the air and all Will had done was blink. The knight leapt after the giant wolf, only for Strikemon to have recovered as quickly as possible as he fired a giant red pulsating orb out of the building into the path of the knight. The knight met the orb midair resulting in a huge fiery explosion, but it did not slow him as he landed inside the building before Strikemon. A rush of air distracted Will from the chaotic fight as he turned rapidly, finding Death's fist just passing quickly past his face.

"Shit!" Will swore as he never noticed Death rushing towards him. Will raised an arm in an attempt block but Death's follow up punch had such immense force behind it that the impact threw Will completely off balance. Will grunted in pain as he attempted to step back, only for Death to close the distance again bringing his knee into Will's midsection, easily knocking every breath out of him as the force of the blow lifted Will from the floor. Without missing a beat Death throw another fist into Will's jaw sending him cleanly back a few feet and crashing to the floor. Will was horribly dazed, pulling himself to his feet as best as he could.

"You can't be human." Will managed to get out between breaths, but Death said nothing as he began to slowly walk towards Will. Will feigned left and swung, his fist connected with the mask causing Death to just stagger the smallest amount. Will smirked.

"Human after all." Will crouched down to land a second hit, but Death was so much quicker that Will felt himself fly backwards from the sheer force of another hit. Without warning Strikemon came crashing down from another building, rubble and bits of glass flying in every direction as he collided with the memorial and bouncing across the floor, barely managing to recover his momentum to land on his feet beside Will. Will pulled himself up again, noticing Strikemon was covered in cuts, bruises, and marks of a losing battle, and that Strikemon was now keeping one eye shut. The Knight gracefully landed behind Death, not a scratch on either of them. Will pulled himself over next to Strikemon, noticing the destruction of multiple floors of buildings and the ease with which it had been achieved.

"We're outmatched." He whispered to Strikemon who only growled in frustration. Will pulled himself onto Strikemon and with a shot; they were racing away, passing various buildings yet to be used.

"Go." Death ordered with ease. Will barely saw the knight out of the corner of his eye but a single blow from the knight sent the pair crashing across a street, as Strikemon crashed into an abandoned car, Will sailed over it and crashed into a large window pane that cracked with ease. Before his body hit the floor the Knight had seized him with one long twisted hand and a tight grip. Will's eyes widened as he began to struggle to breath. A short distance away Strikemon was engulfed in a golden light that shattered to reveal his ultimate form, Were Strikemon. The Wolf warrior charged at the knight, but the wispy knight simply side stepped and took off running up the building easily.

"Get back here!" Were Strikemon yelled as he began to climb the building as quickly as possible, with his hammer strapped to his back. His speed was nothing compared to that of the knight. Without warning the Knight plunged into a random floor near the top of the skyscraper, throwing Will through the glass as he collided with rows of desks and tumbled to a painful heap on the floor near the wall in the middle of the floor. Will coughed as oxygen was allowed back into his lungs, everything now on fire with pain as he felt blood running down one of his arms and his forehead. The room was spinning as he grunted in massive pain as he tried to stand up, only for two blood red blades to be plunged into the wall either side of him. He sighed defeated, leaning back against the wall as the Knight was only inches from his face.

"Do it." Will forced out. The fight had been a short and devastating one; he felt broken and beaten as his head was swimming. He had landed on blow that did nothing. He stared into the empty mangled face of the knight who seemed to breathe steadily and said nothing.

"You haven't felt that in a long time have you? That's fear. You're right to feel it." Death appeared as if from nowhere. Will could barely be bothered to turn to face him but grinned. He was right, he was terrified, and he was actually shaking with fear in the face of such brutal power. Death gestured to the window with his head, and in a split second the room erupted into chaos. Were Strikemon tore into the floor, his hammer ignited in a great lightning, only for the Knight to rapidly disarm him and threw the giant werewolf warrior to the floor with so much force the entire floor sank several meters.

"WereStrikemon…" Will managed to get out. He could only watch as the Knight used one of his blood red blades to launch Were Strikemon back out of the building. Will's heart sank as he watched Werestrikemon sail through the air only to crash onto the roof of another building, destroying several air vents in the process. Will felt a horrendous mix of rage and fear as Werestrikemon had stopped moving. Before Will could do anything, Death's hand clasped around his throat, and the blood red blade appeared on his other side again.

"Now, I'm not going to kill you. But I need you to do something, something of vast importance for us all." Death made a grand gesture with his other arm and without missing a beat carried on talking.

"I need you to remember about the relics, and I need you to go and bloody collect them. Got it?" Will's eyes widened. The relics were an item only a few were supposed to know about.

"Good! You know of them!" Death exclaimed happily. Deaths gripped tightened slightly before he slammed his head into Will's, the mix of pain and lack of oxygen almost knocking him out as the room began to spin uncontrollable as he felt the weight of his legs give out, only Death was stopping him from falling. Death's eyes flickered quickly.

"Now, I do need to visit your friends in America. See you around, cursed one." Death let go of Will but in a split second the Knight swung the blunt side of the glowing blood red sword into Will's midsection. Will would barely remember the impact or the explosion, but the sensation of flying through the pane of glass and into the sky would forever remain with him. For a brief moment he sailed across the sky line, smoke and blood were his flight trail as he felt himself plummet.

"I got you!" Will felt himself collide with something midair with a huge amount of force that wrapped its blue furry arms around him. He barely registered Weregarurumon had caught him midair as they plummeted to the ground, Weregarurumon using back to protect Will as he collided with the side of another building. In seconds the pair had reached the ground and with the sound of metal buckling and screaming they had crashed into a large white van, Weregarurumon screamed in pain as the pair bounced off of it, his arms finally giving out as Will slammed onto the pavement. His body was on fire with so much pain; his clothes were damp from blood, and his head was swimming as everything faded to black.

"Will! What happened?" The panic in the voice barely registered in Will's mind. The only thing he could feel was the cool slick of blood running along his skin as he lay face down on the pavement, in the distance sirens were approaching.

"I could do with a hospital." Will said meekly before fading away into nothingness.


	15. Chapter 15

Only a short one this time, but I assure you, things are picking up. Read, enjoy, and review. Remember to check out the other writers when you have time.

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Dim pale light filled the barren office that offered only the dull blue light of various unused monitors, all but shut down for the night. There were only two figures in the office, one fast asleep in the corner, the other stood hunched over a printer, sighing heavily as he watched the paper spit out of the ancient machine.

"Should have stayed in the Digital world." He muttered. He had often questioned why he had chosen this life since he chose to end his adventures. Where he was once dressed in various travel gear, goggles, boots, and his infamous brown coat, now he stood over the copy machine, carefully trying to avoid catching his plain black tie, and standard white shirt and black trousers. Once he was David Winter, one of Gennai's chosen, a man infamous for tracking down and eliminating any growing threats to the sovereigns. Now he was David Winter, business owner, who ran his hand through his thinning blonde hair.

"Hurry up; I want to go home before I come back in four hours." David groaned, horribly agitated at the long hours his own business was causing him to work. It was simple, his business offered to do the paperwork others didn't want too. In hindsight, it was a horribly boring idea. David glanced over to the corner of the office where his partner slept soundly, Ravemon, a tall armoured ninja type Digimon with steel wings that extended off his arms. Whenever he had to work late, Ravemon would attempt to bring him food.

"You know, we could be at home, drinking. " Ravemon muttered, clearly not as asleep as David had thought. David quietly agreed, but this was still better than the alternative. Travelling across the Digital landscapes, chasing down threats, with the thrill of a good sight, and hundreds of new people to encounter every day, and nothing but a true sense of satisfied adventure but mentally winched as a pain shot through his left arm. He flexed the arm cautiously, trying not to make an injury flare up. During his travels he had fought against Alpha Strikemon and picked up many injuries in the process, but one time Alpha Strikemon had managed to grab him, and in the process nearly crushed his upper arm, something he still bared the scars of along with the stress of months of rehabilitation to use the arm again. After the siege of Odaiba, he had chosen to retire, leaving Will as the only active member of their ancient team.

"Stupid machine!" David muttered angrily as he kicked the copy machine as smoke began to pour out from one side. David unplugged the machine from the wall and cursed himself for being an older Digidestined, even older than Joe the Digimon "doctor", he was forced to face a reality where he couldn't be a Digidestined forever. He had left that life behind, in favour of this office, and a business he had built. A chill went down David's spine at the sound of Ravemon drawing his sword rapidly from it's sheathe.

"Who are you?" Ravemon demanded. David turned and started backing towards Ravemon, his hand reaching down to his Digivice which was always connected to his belt, a lifetime habit. He didn't hear the figure enter or speak, nor its partner. Before him stood a tall man covered in black and white leather, with a tattered cloak and white face mask. Beside him stood a tall, whispery, lanky deformed knight with a melted golden crown for part of a face.

"My name is Death." Death almost mocked as he laughed. There was a thrill in taking Digidestined unaware he enjoyed. David took a few slow steps back; it was a small space, his eyes quickly moving to the wall of glass that was the only real exit. Death advanced slowly, blocking the stairs. David suddenly cursed himself for opting for the cheap office space on the sixteenth floor of this building. Ravemon moved forward, sword low and ready, and in response the knight beside death flicked his arms to summon two pale red blades.

"I do hope you're a better fight than your friend." David grinned, suddenly charged by the idea of a battle. Ravemon expertly moved across the office terrain, his blade ready. To anyone in the street below, all they would have seen would have been a series of explosions and balls of fire erupting from the building, as it came crashing down in the early hours of the day.

* * *

"How on earth did you find me?" Trace asked, half in awe at the girl who was standing at the base of the tree. On odd occasions Trace would find a tree such as the very one he was in, and he'd rest at the top, choosing to people watch to remove his mind from various things.

"I know you very well. It also helps most Digivices can be tracked." The girl joked as she held her Digivice up to Trace. Her bright blonde hair with a simple single blue streak was tossed around by the wind of the warm evening, but even with the fading light, her green eyes stood out to him. She was dressed in her usual tight blue jeans, and a well fitted black tank top, which allowed Trace to gain a particular view from above he wasn't altogether sure he should be so comfortable seeing.

"Nicely done, Skyler." Trace quickly descended from the tree to stand near the girl who was a year younger than him.

"You know you should say hi more often when you're in town." Skyler smiled gently. Somehow Trace found himself easily relaxing around her. They had after all worked together as Digidestined.

"I know, I'll try to say hi earlier next time." Trace dusted himself off, no closer to figuring out what to do.

"What's got you so down?" Skyler asked with a raised eyebrow. Trace frowned; somehow she always knew when something was up with him. She moved to lean against the tree, and Trace followed suit, not realising how close they were to each other.

"Things are not good with Jessie, Reaver still isn't talk to me, and there's so much going on in the Digital west right now." Trace felt a weight of stress leave him, he never quite understood why but talking to Skyler always made him feel better.

"So you're saying you're no closer to resolving your dilemma of fighting, or not fighting, right?" Skyler asked, hitting the nail on the head causing Trace to sigh, and he could only nod in response, exhausted from the last couple of weeks.

"You should take your time, you can't just rush into battles like you used too if you aren't sure." Skyler said it so simply, but just hearing someone else say it made Trace relax ever so slightly. The two didn't say anything for a while, just standing with each other for company as Trace leaned his head back against the tree.

"Will's back." Trace said out of nowhere, unsure if it was his place to tell others or not.

"We heard, Leya let us know." Skyler said simply, as Trace laughed.

"Of course she did." Trace said dryly. For just a moment everything was still, it was as if he could forget everything that had been happening recently. In that moment, nothing mattered, Trace felt relaxed and content, even as Skyler placed her head on his shoulder. He made no move to change anything, as his discussion continued quietly inside of his head. Should he fight, or should he leave it to the others? He still had plenty to do, answer to find, especially from Alex Dowski, the child of life. Without warning and without leading up to it, a purple light erupted across the centre of the sky as if it was a hole being torn in existence itself.

"A digital gate?!" Skyler and Trace could only watch, as a gigantic claw with data streaming off of it reached through, and whatever was on the other side, began to pull itself through with a demonic scream, that dulled out the high pitch whine of their Digivices.


	16. Chapter 16

Another week, another chapter. I wasn't kidding when I said this story was going to be a long one, but in the mean time remember to check out the stories on the other Networks writers pages. Hope you all review and enjoy.

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"You need to force it back through the gate before it pulls itself through!" Trace yelled at the top of his lungs, but no one heeded his advice or his orders. Trace looked around and panicked. Flames engulfed a large part of the park they were now in, black pillars of smoke rapidly rising towards the purple tear in the sky. Various Digidestined had rushed to the scene from all over the city, and Trace was sure there were more to come. His heart raced and stopped multiple times over the destruction that had been caused in a matter of minutes. It had fired one blast of sickening yellow force at the city and the ground under the blast had erupted in all manners of destruction, fire rained across the park and part of the city, debris of a small shop had found its way to them, and the Digital creature hadn't even managed to fully emerge yet.

"Come on! You guys need to work together!" Trace yelled once more, but again no one listened. Above them glared down a twisted and warped white mask of a giant Digimon, with a single blood red orb for an eye peering down. It growled and snarled, seemingly unable to produce any language other than a scream. Trace's blood went cold, it was nothing like the virus he had seen in the Digital world, this thing was huge, city ending huge. Its very existence seemed to drop the temperature despite the flames in the local area and it seemed to be growing in size, at this point even an Imperialidramon would struggle to force it back. Trace looked back at Skyler who simply shook her head.

"Without Mastemon and Blackwargreymon we can't do anything here, we're just in the way, we need to go find the others!" Skyler yelled at Trace but Trace seemed unable to hear it. Part of him knew she was right; they needed to find the others, others who could fight instead of them. He had no desire to fight, even now, he knew he would only lend to the mass destruction before him. He had to coordinate them so he didn't have to fight. He had too.

"If I could just get them to listen they could end this now!" Trace muttered angrily as various Digidestined stood around helplessly and arguing with one another. In that moment an Angemon fly towards the breach, readying an attack but within seconds the white mask launched a second yellow blast of force, reducing the winged Digimon to nothing but data. The Digidestined who just saw his best friend obliterated in seconds screamed out in horror. Trace scanned the crowd spotting someone with a dark metallic badge handing loose from their jeans on a small chain keying.

"The messengers, we can get the messengers!" Trace smiled briefly. His original duty was to lead the American Digidestined in a team known as the messengers. The sovereign's personal force of Digidestined who coordinate other teams and on rare occasions, lead the fights in the streetswhen others wouldn't. Many of them had been present at the siege of Odaiba, but Trace struggled to recognise the messenger before him. Trace raced over to the messenger.

"Where are the other messengers? Why aren't they here yet?" Trace grabbed the arm of the messenger, clearly someone much younger than himself.

"Get off me bro! We're waiting!" The younger Digidestined spat back as he pulled his arm free. In that moment Trace suddenly remembered the moment he had left the messengers, and the American Digidestined. He no longer wished to fight, and they saw that as him turning his back on them. Trace's heart stopped, it was no wonder they wouldn't listen to him, and they had never known him as a leader. Then Trace heard it, just ever so slightly above the roar of the creature, above the arguing of the Digidestined, above the destruction, he heard a noise he knew better than anything.

"They're here!" Someone yelled out. All eyes turned to greet two Digidestined arriving on the back of a solid steel silver motorcycle. Jesse quickly leapt from the back of the cycle as her partner, Victorygreymon flew over head, weapons ready and primed for the fight. Trace smiled at the sight of the Digidestined riding the bike as he casually stepped off. A simple war torn black leather jacket, plain white oil stained t-shirt, and tattered grey jeans, his entire outfit was a contrast to his pale skin and pitch black hair, which made his horribly dark red eyes stand out.

"Reaver!" Trace called out as he began to push his way through the crowd towards him. Reaver's partner Bleezemon took his spot alongside Victorygreymon in the air and he laughed joyously, pleased with a real fight on his hands. Reaver, owner of the motorcycle was the Digidestined who had once trained and taught Trace, and Trace could only assume he had taken over the Messengers and American Digidestined since he stopped fighting.

"Anyone with a water Digimon, get to work on putting out those fucking fires!" Reaver marched towards the crowd, his entire entity oozing authority and leadership. Reaver was once suspected of being a dark Digidestined, and at times he treaded the line very carefully, but ultimately he always sided with those such as Trace and Will in times of chaos, although he would never attempt to be friends with Will.

"Reaver! You need to-" Trace failed to finish the sentence as Reaver threw everything he head into a single punch, launching Trace clearly off his feet with such force, he was unconscious before he even hit the ground. Reaver scowled and looked over at Skyler.

"Keep him out of my way whilst we handle this, got it?" It wasn't a question and Skyler simply nodded. Reaver looked around and felt the entire crowd's eyes upon him and Jesse.

"What are you waiting for? Get to work dealing with the fires! The rest of you, you're with us! Get ready for a fight!"

* * *

"God damn it!" Leya yelled, her entire being filled with nothing but rage. Komodomon knelt down and began to examine the wreckage and destruction that lay before them in the Digital world.

"Second time this week." Elegon muttered, as Celemon took to the skies to survey the area. Celemon began to fly in circles, slowly expanding her range. Before them was a large metal pike embedded into the ground amidst charred ground, debris, and the broken remains of a small village or town. Slowly, since the fall of Bleezemon various Digital towns and Digimon in the area had began to pledge their alliance to the Digidestined, instead of the Digital King or any other force in the local area. Emma Carver and her group had always beaten them to the area and taught the locals what it meant to betray the King.

"They left another note." Elegon said simply as he pulled the note from the pike. Leya scowled, Emma's group had caused chaos for the entire week they refused to give an answer which had prevented her from following her plan of following Will to Odaiba.

"What does it say?" Leya spat out angrily.

"You are invited to a meeting of the council of Digital good to discuss the future of the West. All are welcome, all are invited, and all should come. Sincerely ,the Digital King." Elegon paused for a moment as he flipped the paper over.

"On the back it says, from Emma and the real Digidestined." Elegon sighed, wishing he had never met the blonde girl. Something didn't sit right with him however; he had always been a strong judge of character. She never seemed like a bad person, she had never threatened them, and she had never attacked them. He glanced around the destruction of the small town and frowned, the destruction just didn't seem to be her. Alex had however pointed out; she had likely lied the entire time they had spoken.

"We're going to that meeting." Leya said flatly. Elegon turned mouth agape.

"Are you serious? They'll just try to get us, it's clearly a trap!" Elegon just couldn't quite understand it.

"Yeah more than likely, but if we take Alex and Gennai with us, they can work on gathering information and find out information on their forces." Leya said it simply, her blood still boiling. They had to stop this group sooner rather than later, they were getting in the way of everything they needed to do, handle the virus, keeping the team together, removing the threats of the west.

"We have to deal with them, now." Komodomon growled. Elegon sighed heavily, shutting his eyes before yelling out loudly.

"Fine! But I'm going with you. It says the meeting is in the grand Digital city." Elegon crunched up the paper and threw it away, before storming away from the destruction.

* * *

The beeping was driving him insane. It just wouldn't stop and he was in no position to stop it.

"Hey hey, the dumbass is awake." Matt said sarcastically with a grin. Will grinned back, finding his jaw felt bruised and sore, but no worse for wear.

"Thanks, asshole." Will replied, grateful he could at least still speak. Once again he found himself in a hospital room for the third day in a row since the fight downtown. Due to the sheer number of painkillers Will often found himself drifting in and out of sleep and had lost track of time. He sighed, leaning his head back against the pillows.

"Tea?" Matt asked, finding that he himself was craving a coffee.

"God yes." Will answered simply as he slowly propped himself up in the bed using only his left arm. His right arm for the time being was wrapped in several layers of bandages; it hadn't broken but had been so heavily bruised it needed the extra support and time to heal. He dear not list his injuries, fearing he would never reach the end. Matt nodded and left the room, attempting to shut the door quietly. Will look around the room to spot several rookie level Digimon sleeping in a small pile huddled together in the corner with Lightmon, covered in his own bandages, at the centre of the pile.

"I know you're awake." Will said simply, as the eyes of the auburn headed Digidestined opened her eyes as she sat in the chair opposite his bed.

"You're still going to American aren't you?" Sora asked bluntly as she shifted in the chair.

"Oh yeah, need to knock some sense into Trace." Will laughed lightly; finding his ribs hurt ever so slightly, still a vast improvement in the last few days. Sora sighed, and stared at Will for a moment, clearly tired. Despite being in and out of consciousness, Will couldn't quite remember a time when Matt and Sora had left his side in the last few days.

"There's no way of stopping you either, I remember the last time I tried to talk you out of something, I just ended up going with you." Sora admitted defeated.

"There's been no sign of that guy and his Digimon since; Alex said he's seen nothing on his end as well." Sora spoke quietly as he carefully made her way to sit on the end of Will's bed.

"Considering those weird virus creatures have made their way to the real world, probably best there are some of you here to keep them at bay, should the worst happen." Will was still smiling, but he had no idea, choosing to blame the painkillers.

"Leaving again already then." Sora said sadly. Will stopped smiling ever so slightly but then flashed a big grin.

"It's cool; I'll be back in a few weeks. Just have to drag Trace back, stop the virus, save the world, and we'll party!" Will attempted to raise a single arm with a small "Woo" but frowned as his arm was tugged slightly by the IV drip. Sora gently and carefully pushed his arm down and Will frowned, suddenly unaware of why his arm was moving without his permission.

"You got Matt anyway." Will said in a sudden calm and serious tone, his eyes very aware of the situation that been growing between them.

"You seem happier than the last time I was here and he's basically attached to you." Will grinned again slightly, happy to see friends happy.

"You better be back for the Christmas party." Sora smiled warmly and Will nodded, grateful he hadn't missed another one.

"Wait what Month is it?" Sora laughed as Will looked around sheepishly, realising he didn't actually know what the date was. He lay his head back and shut his eyes for a moment, the words of death quietly ringing in his head to the beat of the machine next to him.

"Find. The. Relics." In a moment of sobriety, Will began to trace over his mental map of where the relics were, or at least where he thought he remembered they were. They were powerful items left behind by fallen Digidestined, that were too dangerous to be used again or passed on, and so they were hidden away. Will stared at the ceiling for a brief moment as he realised he only knew the location of two, but it made no sense, Death was clearly powerful enough to seize them, so why would he want Will to collect them?

"You look so cheerful." Matt added as he walked into the room, hot drinks in hand. A dopey smile returned to Will's face at the sight of a cup of tea. Will's eyes moved quickly to the crest still wrapped in leather on the locker beside him, he had only been gone for a matter of months but he got the feeling that somehow, things had never been more dangerous.

"There's too much going on for it to not be connected." Will muttered barely above a whisper. Sora turned to him, thinking she had heard something. Will simply grinned back, wishing for his recovery to speed up.


	17. Chapter 17

Apologies for the delayed chapter, but things here are picking up in terms of work and it looks like I'm going to be busy for a while. Until things quieten down I may only be updating once every other week but the story will continue until it's done. Sorry for the delay, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

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"That was a fucking good fight!" Bleezemon cheered to himself between breaths as he collapsed to the floor, using a pile of rubble from what was once a shopping district to support his back. He was covered in injuries and burns, but after a few hours they had managed to barely seal the breech. Reaver sighed angrily with frustration, he hadn't got a single good night of sleep since he had to take over Trace's responsibilities and it was beginning to show. His eyes were sore but he just couldn't rid the image of that giant digital creature emerging from the digital breech.

"So that's the virus." Reaver collapsed to the floor, his back wet with sweat causing his shirt to stick to him as he glared at the sky. He had ordered all of the other Digidestined to take off, get away from the area because no doubt the military would be here eventually, and they weren't as accepting as the Japanese after the Odaiba siege.

"Yeah, I guess so. So that's what the others have been looking at." Jesse said quietly, referring to Gennai's chosen.

"It's what Trace should be dealing with." Reaver spat out angrily, relishing in the memory of punching the former American Digidestined leader. Reaver had seen the destruction caused, the injuries that piled up that were no doubt causing havoc in the local hospital, and for a brief moment he understood why Trace no longer wished to fight.

"He can't keep running away." Jesse said firmly, her eyes gazing off into the distance, silently hoping that another breech didn't open ever again. It was unusual to see a breech at all, let alone one forced open by a Digital virus of that size. It had snarled, and screamed with an inhuman voice and let loose streams of toxic purple flame that behaved more like water than flame. A chill went down her spine, stopping herself from thinking about what could possibly be happening in the Digital world to create such a thing so easily.

"No, he can't. What do you care though? Didn't he cheat on you?" Reaver said a little too bluntly. Jesse glared at him, her temper and patience shot.

"No, he did not." She answered firmly. Although in her mind he may as well have, considering how much time he had spent with skyler in recent months. Things just hadn't been the same since Trace froze up in a battle and nearly got half of the American team killed, when the dust settled and it was Skyler who was comforting Trace, things had gotten very complicated.

"Fuck him, we don't need him." Reaver's blood boiled easily, but there was nothing worse than someone who didn't help his team. He hated to say it, but they did need him, or at the very least Blackwargreymon, there were a lack of mega level Digimon in America. Something made Reaver's blood run cold as he sat up with a start and looked around, they were being watched.

"Where…" Reaver muttered to himself as he scanned the few buildings left looking for any sign of something weird, something that didn't feel right or belong but his eyes couldn't find anything.

"We should go, now." Reaver said abruptly. Just in the distance, without a word or sound, someone was indeed watching. Death peered around a corner quietly, watching the two American Digidestined and studying them, he did not breathe nor move the entire time.

"The Digidestined who walks the line of light and darkness, and the Digidestined who helped seal away the lord of time. You will be useful."

* * *

"You're an idiot!" Leya frowned and crossed her arms, resisting the urge to just outright punch the battered and bandaged Irish Digidestined before her. Despite the giant Digital sun in the sky above them, the region was relatively cold. Will sighed, his right arm was entirely encased in bandage, but his bruises were showing in various places that couldn't be hidden simply with a long sleeved shirt. Will may have been dressed in his usual maroon shirt and white leather off the hip, but his bandaged hand couldn't be hidden so easily, as it was too painful to wear a glove over the partially fractured wrist.

"He looked like a Digidestined, a dark Digidestined, I thought it would be fine but he was super fast-" Will started, waving his bandaged hand but Leya cut him off.

"But he wiped the floor with you. He sounds more like a Digital being. You shouldn't be fighting those sorts alone, even if you're in Odaiba!" Leya yelled, unbelievably frustrated at the random call to meet Will with supplies in a barren part of the Digital world. She had thrown the bag at his feet as soon as she him limping towards her.

"Hey now, I remember when I used to give you these talks." Will said smoothly with a smirk, but Leya was not amused, causing Will's smirk to drop ever so slightly with worry. Quietly nearby Komodomon and Strikemon were engaged in their own conversation, no doubt exchanging information about the mysterious Death and his white knight Digital partner.

"That just means you should know better! There's too much going on right now that we can afford to lose people!" Leya once again resisted the urge of punching him. Will sighed, not entirely sure how to end the unrelenting lesson. In a small brainwave Will closed the distance and simply hugged Leya, causing her to go silent and slowly return the embrace.

"So how's the town doing? Elegon and Alex blown it up yet?" Will asked quietly as Strikemon simply looked on.

"The Digital King wants to meet me, says he wants to hold a discussion between all the local leaders in the West." Leya answered quietly, trying not to hug Will to tightly in case she broke his ribs or something equally as delicate.

"I wouldn't mind a meeting with this guy myself; I might have to join you on that meeting when I take care of things. When is it?" Will made a mental note to be back in time to handle the Digital King, whatever it came too.

"Two weeks, what are you going to do in the mean time?" Leya asked curiously, considering his injuries he should have been resting.

"Go to America, get Trace, knock sense into him, bring him back here and then we face the King and this virus together." Will said it with such confidence it was as if he hadn't been thrown from a building in his last fight or that his injuries made no difference to him. Leya realised quietly, his injuries probably didn't make any difference to him.

"You both better come back in one piece." Will laughed.

"It's cool, I got a plan." Leya sighed angrily.

"Your plans don't ever end well."

* * *

Will had always preferred to travel through various Digital gates rather than plane, simply because it was quicker. He had found his way to Trace's home city only to find half of it deserted and in rubble. The lack of people and complete buildings allowed Will to ride Strikemon through the streets to quickly head to his destination.

"Must have been one hell of a Digital gate." Strikemon growled. Will silently agreed and hoped that the American Digidestined were okay. They passed ruined building after ruined building, until they reached the old unnoticeable rusty red coffee shop. Will dismounted Strikemon and noticed that somehow despite the massive carnage that had been inflicted, the shop that acted as the base for American Digidestined was largely untouched. If Will was going to find Trace, he knew he'd need to find the other American Digidestined first. Will had barely placed his hand on the door when he heard an all too familiar voice call out to him.

"Just couldn't stay dead could you? Would have done most of us a favour if you had." Will turned to come face to face with Reaver.

"Always good to see an ally." Will said calmly, turning to hide his injured arm and shoulder.

"Ally? You'd be lucky. In case you didn't hear, I lead the American team now. As far as I'm concerned, we don't work for anyone but ourselves, you and Gennai can fuck off." Reaver didn't move but his eyes spoke volumes to Will, he had not been missed by this particular Digidestined.

"Considering how often we've helped each other, that's rich coming from you. I'll keep it simple, you can handle whatever is going on here, I just need to find Trace." Strikemon growled. Reaver and Will had worked together for years, but they had never been friends or even come close, before Will had vanished things had not been good between them since the last fight in the Dark Ocean.

"Ha! The coward and the dead one, fine by me. Just stay out of my way." Reaver moved to push past Will but Will only laughed.

"Oh yeah, you look real busy defending this place, I think I saw maybe half a building that didn't look like shit!" Will mentally slapped himself; Reaver knew how to annoy him far too easily.

"Enough! We should discuss this inside." Reaver turned and scoffed at the sight of Jesse as she rounded the corner, before promptly heading indoors. Jesse gave Will a quick hug.

"It's good to see you but we've a lot to talk too about."


	18. Chapter 18

Apologies for the shorter than usual chapter, however the next one is a big one, so expect a lengthy read when it comes out. As usual I hope you read, enjoy, and review. Don't forget to check out the rest of the work in the Networks series if you're waiting for this to update.

* * *

"Somehow, even when you're not alive you're busy." Jesse sighed as she placed her down on the top of the coffee counter letting the cool surface sooth her.

"I wasn't dead!" Will exclaimed with a small aggravated sigh. Will had to admit however, things had become increasingly busy with each day. His "to do" list was also expanding more rapidly than ever before.

Stop the virus.

Handle Lucas.

Figure out my crest.

Visit the king.

Memories of the missing nine months?

Stop death.

Get some sleep.

He couldn't help but feel he was missing something, something important to do with Leya.

"At least the bandages aren't a new fashion trend. So what do you intend to do about Trace?" Jesse asked as she sat up once again in the coffee shop that had seen better days, catching Will's attention. Will glanced down at the bandages briefly, he was still sore but better than recent days. He could still feel Reaver's gaze almost pierce his very soul from across the room. Reaver had taken up a spot near the window and was currently peeking through the blinds, looking for something that clearly wasn't there.

"I need to remind him that it's okay to fight." Will said simply. He frowned at the thought of his plan.

"He's as stubborn as you; he won't listen to a discussion." Jesse said as she looked at her own reflection in the huge coffee machine before her. Will said nothing as he felt she had more to say and he waited patiently.

"After the Dark Ocean, when you vanished, he came back so different. He didn't talk for days. All I could get out of him was that people had died. He said it was a battle that went horribly wrong. He's been in worse fights than that but something just got to him this time. You saw the shrine he set up for fallen Digidestined, he refused to fight anymore and tried to convince others to do the same." Jesse sighed; she was exhausted thinking back on the last few months.

"That explains why you two are running the teams here now." Will muttered to himself. He always knew that the teams here were more conflict based than other countries he had been too, and as expected, Trace's new ideals didn't sit well.

"You left out the part where he's been spending more time with Skyler, I mean, anyone would think they were the ones dating!" Reaver added with sarcasm. Will raised his eyebrows, he'd never taken Trace for one to cheat and he looked directly at Jesse with concern.

"He hasn't done anything. She's just trying to be there for him." Jesse tried to say it in a way that indicated she was glad Trace had someone to talk too, but Will could see there was far more anger behind it than she was letting on. A small silence filled the shop as Reaver kept looking out the window.

"So what's your plan Dickhead?" Reaver asked suddenly, Will shook his head gently ignoring the comment.

"I have a plan, but I need you guys on side for it." Will sighed hard, he didn't like the idea.

"What do you need us for?" Jesse asked, her curiosity peaked by Will's tone.

"If this backfires, Trace won't ever speak to me or probably most of the others ever again." Will said it as if it was a certain fact.

"What are you planning?" Reaver asked darkly.

"It involves his sisters."

* * *

What the hell was he playing at? Trace screamed the question in his mind over and over as he raced through the rubble of the town. Blackwargreymon flew just above, keeping pace with Trace.

"Why the hell is he here!?" Trace muttered angrily as he sped through part of a building. He couldn't believe what his sisters had told him when they found him.

"He said he wants you to meet him in the centre of the park." The youngest sister had told Trace. Trace and Blackwargreymon had wasted no time and they were on their in seconds. How dare he do that to his sisters! Trace finally arrived at the park and there he was, already waiting and smiling. Why was he fucking smiling?

"What the fuck are you playing at!?" Trace yelled in fury. Blackwargreymon landed next to Trace once they came to a stop, his eyes trained on Zeedstrikemon who currently had lightning coursing around his right arm.

"Well it means you come to me instead of me tracking you down." Will said cheerfully. Trace's blood was boiling.

"Why did you take their Digivices!?" Trace yelled, his anger and temper completely blown. Blackwargreymon flexed his shoulders, readying himself for a fight, a smile slowly stretching across his lips. Will held out the hand that wasn't wrapped in bandage, and from his hand dangled two crests and Digivices, that were very much not his.

"Well, I'm going to offer you a deal." Will said slyly. The Digivices and crests had been taken from Trace's sisters, and Will knew Trace would do anything for his sisters.

"Just give them back; you had no right to take them!" Trace balled his fists.

"Here's the deal. We're going to have a good old school, two on two. Zeedstrikemon against Blackwargreymon, and you against me. If you win, you get these Digivices and crests back." Will smiled and felt his heart rate increase quickly, he had always enjoyed sparring with Trace but now something was on the line.

"And when I win?" Trace's blood was boiling; he instantly noticed one of Will's arms was heavily bandaged despite having shirt sleeves that covered both arms.

"Well that's simply, you get them back. Now, don't think I'm joking, you know I'm perfectly capable of stopping people being Digidestined. You've seen me do it before." Will grinned slightly, his free hand undoing his makeshift tool belt and let it collapse to the floor. He wouldn't need his knife or anything of that sort, he was nothing if not fair. Trace noticed the knife on the floor; he wasn't so sure he'd play by the rules himself. Suddenly Will launched the Digivices and crests into the air, only for Bleezemon to catch them, and shoot off into the distance, his giant black raven wings propelling him at high speeds.

"Ah! Wait now, you only have to beat me! Simple, right?" Will mocked Trace. Trace was fully aware of what Will had done in the past, he had seen Will smash Digivices, and destroy crests from dark Digidestined, he never knew if Will felt anything whilst doing it, but Trace was certain he was a man of his word.

"Come on! Aren't you curious? Who are really the better fighters? The Guardians or the Messengers?" Will held his arms open waiting for a response, it was an age old question the two had argued about since they met. Zeedstrikemon slowly started to rise into the air, lightning around his arm becoming stronger and more intense. Trace nodded at Blackwargreymon, his anger had risen to a new high seeing Bleezemon helping Will, meaning Reaver was helping too. Trace knew he would have to deal with them later but right now, he was going to enjoy this. Blackwargreymon launched himself forward and crashed into Zeedstrikemon with nothing but ballistic force and raw speed driving them both back far away from their human partners. Will laughed and he started walking towards Trace.

"Good answer, Trace!"

* * *

 **Next chapter : Showdown.**


	19. Chapter 19

Got one more chapter left in this arc and I can't wait to hear what you guys think. Let me know in reviews what your thoughts are. As usual, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

 **Showdown.**

"I don't believe it." A Digidestined cowered, unable to move as she watched two titan Digimon clash in the sky above the ruined city outskirts. The sound of each hit was deafening, Zeedstrikemon's electric sword came crashing down on Blackwargreymon's shield with a furry, scarring the pitch black metal and sending sparks raining to the ground.

"It's them, they're fighting." A younger male Digidestined whispered as he looked on, his eyes darting back and forth between the two humans and two Digimon having an all out brawl. Blackwargreymon pushed hard to the right with his shield as the next blow from the sword came into contact, knocking Zeedstrikemon off balance before lunging with his left claw. Zeedstrikemon only just managed to angle himself out of the blow before the two pushed away from each other.

"About time you guys showed up and did something." Blackwargreymon growled excitedly, lost in the thrill of the fight.

"We always have a plan." Zeedstrikemon rushed forward with both swords ready and began to exchange a fury of blows with Blackwargreymon, both moving with ease and a life time of combat behind them, every clash of metal sending sparks crashing to the ground. The two meet in a deadlock of sword and gauntlet and without hesitation crash their helmets into one another.

"Just because I know you two planned this out, doesn't mean I'm gonna take it easy on you. Trace needs to win this!" Blackwargreymon pushed harder, the spikes of his helmet slowly beginning to pierce Zeedstrikemon's armour.

"Good!" Zeedstrikemon pushed off of Blackwargreymon and without hesitation, brought both swords up as they ignited in a gloriously dangerous lightning blue.

"Lightning riptide!" In a split second, two huge arcing waves of lightning ripped through the ground from the swords that engulfed Blackwargreymon in a storm of blinding lightning, igniting anything and everything around them, as waves of dust and debris erupted in every direction, hiding the two Digimon from all of the spectators who had gathered to watch the clash.

"Black tornado!" Through the debris cloud came a thundering black mass of spinning armour and carnage that caught Zeestrikemon unexpectedly, knocking the wind from him and sending his weapons flying, as Blackwargreymon drove them both back as hard as possible causing them to slam into the remains of a small office building as it came down on top of them. Without even pausing for breath Blackwargreymon took to the sky and summoned the impossibly large blood red arcane sphere above him.

"Terra destroyer!" Without waiting, he launched the sphere at point blank range. For a moment it was silent before the deafening sound of an explosion erupted across the city that was accompanied with a terrifying red glow. Blackwargreymon grinned at the flames that now whipped around the crater he had created where a building had once existed. His eyes scanned for any sign of life and his heart raced when he couldn't detect anything. Without warning or sound, a ferocious pillar of lightning erupted from the sky and engulfed Blackwargreymon in a blinding white light that was quickly replaced with debris and a huge explosion. Blackwargreymon tried to cry out in pain but he wasn't sure if he screamed or not, all he was aware of was how one second he was in the sky and the second, he was in a crater of his own in the ground. Zeedstrikemon landed gracefully on a building across from the crater, his armour still smouldering and now slightly blackened by the terra destroyer. Without hesitation Blackwargreymon emerged from the crater, one of his gauntlets and his shield now clearly cracked and dangerously close to destruction.

"Is that it? Is that all your new form can do!?" Blackwargreymon yelled defiantly. Zeedstrikemon laughed hard as his hands were engulfed in lightning and he drew them apart, quickly summoning a scythe made of lightning.

"You have no idea!"

* * *

"This plan was disgusting." Jesse said, her scathing anger rising to the surface. She was aware Will was capable of a lot but even this surprised her. She watched as more Digidestined began to emerge to watch the fight, her eyes remained fixed on Trace. She hadn't seen him so driven and motivated, or even in a fight like this in a long time. A pang of guilt washed over her, that it was Will of all people who could bring this out in Trace once more.

"But it worked." Reaver folded his arms and watched the battle closely and followed the exchanges of lightning and flame. He had already returned the Digivices and crests to Trace's sisters, who had been as worried about Trace as the rest of them. He hated to admit it, but everyone had agreed to join in Will's plan, even Blackwargreymon and Trace's sisters. He did not expect however for this to become a fight with an audience, quite a crowd of Digidestined had come to watch two well known Digidestined and their partners duke it out. He should have sold tickets, he mused. However he couldn't shake the feeling, even now, something was watching them.

"You feel it too?" Bleezemon asked quietly at the back, to Victorygreymon who was looking around from the top of the small building they had gathered on.

"Indeed. Something is here, something other than us." Victorygreymon kept on one hand on the hilt of his might sword, as Bleezemon thumbed the stock of his shotgun.

"Wanna put money on the fight? One of them might die from this." Reaver said slyly, his tired sarcasm laced throughout. Jesse ignored him as she watched Trace fight harder against the already injured Will. For a split second there was silence, they weren't alone anymore on the roof top. Something was there. Someone was with them. Everyone turned at the same moment to the sound of extra footsteps slowly and calmly advancing towards them, at his side was a large, contorted, twisted white knight with a crooked golden crown for a face.

"It is time to judge you, Digidestined." Death announced as he slowly pushed back his cloak, and showed his own twisted, metal, corrupted and almost organic looking Digivice that had a sickening green light slowly emitting from it, accompanied by a low unnatural whine. Reaver didn't wait and launched himself at Death, who only side stepped the attack before putting his knee into Reaver's midsection and throwing his entire weight into a single strike into the back of Reaver's head, causing the American to slow face first into the floor of the roof. Reaver didn't care for pain and instantly tried to get up, only for Death to lean down and catch him by the hair, and begin to smash his face into the floor over and over. Death almost seemed amused as he then picked up the bloody boy before him and held him to eye level.

"You are no Digidestined. You are an abomination." With a flick of his wrist, Death casually threw Reaver behind him. Jesse watched on as in a split second Reaver had been cast aside, both Bleezemon and Victorywargreymon had taken an impossible rapid amount of attacks and had been pushed aside, the twisted white knight barely using any effort to keep them away from their human partners. It was child's play for them.

"You must come with me." Death held out a single hand for Jesse, her reply was to simply reach behind her for the knife she now carried on her belt.

"Just try it." Before she could move, Death lurched forward and unleashed an unnatural scream as Jesse watched Reaver smile dangerously, after he had plunged a knife into the cloaked figures back. Death turned quickly and with a single strike, knocked Reaver clear from the roof with an inhuman strength, and without even pausing, he raced forward, his hand around Jesse's neck and he kept charging, taking them bother straight off the roof, the twisted white knight following closely behind.

* * *

"Come on! You can do better than this!" Will easily dodged another blow from Trace, who was nothing but anger.

"Why? Why do you want to fight!" Trace yelled as he threw another punch, this time catching Will's bandaged arm. Will gritted his teeth in pain as he saw a small red patch growing on his bandage.

"Because sometimes you have to! Sometimes we are the only ones who can!" Will pushed forward quickly, his fist catching Trace's face and knocked him back. Will took the moment to catch his breath.

"You died! Don't you get it? People die if we fight; we have caused so much damage and death in the last few years! We've seen so many falls!" Trace yelled back, a small trail of blood pouring from the corner of mouth. Will rushed forward but Trace easily blocked the hit and slammed his fist into Will's heavily bandaged arm, causing the Digidestined to fall to his knees, before Trace slammed his knee into Will's jaw knocking him back. Will didn't waste time and scrambled to his feet creating some distance, blood visibly moving down his bandaged arm now. Trace glared at the bandages, why would he fight so hard when he was this injured?

"If we don't fight, more people get hurt. Think the times we've helped others." Will straightened up and waited, as Trace ran forward but Will easily ducked under the blow allowing him to strike Trace's midsection before grabbing him, and slamming his knee hard into Trace's midsection knocking the American to the floor. Trace coughed as he instantly tried to pick himself up.

"When we have something to fight for, we don't lose. We don't get to just get to sit back; we have a job to do!" Will stared at Trace angrily.

"I get it; you're scared of losing more people. But how hard are you fighting right now for someone else?" Trace managed to compose himself before launching at Will, his strike just missing. Will slams his fist into Trace on more time.

"Why can't you all just let me be? I don't want to fight." Trace muttered, he was exhausted and bloody as he stepped back. This time Will didn't advance, instead he chose to catch his breath.

"Sometimes, you have to fight whether you want to or not. The Digital world needs us. The Digitial world needs you right now." For a moment the two glared at one another as they both caught their breath. Without warning, without any signal, the glass of the tower nearby exploded in a hail and crashed to the ground as both boys looked up, they saw the twisted white knight slamming Bleezemon into the building, before easily turning back handing Victorygreymon away. As the two fell to the ground, the twisted white knight sped away in a flash.

"Oh shit." Will muttered. Trace looked up in fear, unsure of just what was happening now as Blackwargreymon and Zeedstrikemon returned from their own duel. Will quickly reached for his belt and strapped it back on. They barely noticed as Reaver pulled up on his motorbike, battered, bloody, and bruised. The bike itself had seen better days as smoke poured of one side of the engine. Blood was streaming down one side of Reaver's face.

"That Death guy is chasing down Jesse. We can't hold them back." Reaver managed to get out between breaths.

"He's heading south." Reaver coughed and wiped away blood with the back of his hand, Will noticed he was bleeding in several other places, but nothing serious.

"You okay to fi-"He was interrupted before he could finish the question.

"Shut the fuck up and help me." Reaver spat back, as he pulled back on the throttle and sped off, chasing after Death and Jesse. Bleezemon and Victorygreymon shot into the sky after the twisted white knight that was leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

"Shit. Zeedstrikemon, we gotta go." Zeedstrikemon without waiting surrounded himself in a golden light and returned to his Strikemon form, as Will jumped on his back.

"What's it gonna be Trace? We have to fight right now to protect someone, someone who's apparently important to you." Will waited a few seconds for a response as Trace's eyes moved all over; his head was in a thousand different places.

"Trace? Come on!" Blackwargreymon growled, he couldn't enter the fight without his partner. Trace remained frozen on the spot. Will shook his head and patted Strikemon and the two were gone in the blink of an eye, chasing the fight. Trace remained silent and still, everything around him fading. He barely noticed the dozen Digidestined who had been watching quickly running in the opposite direction of the fight, the carnage being caused must have been huge to scatter the groups.

"Jesse needs us. Jesse needs you. Come on! What's it going to be Trace? Fight or flight? Make a decision!" Trace remained rooted to the spot, saying nothing.


	20. Chapter 20

Apologies for the shorter chapter, hectic week and I currently have a headache that just won't quit. I hope you read, enjoy, and review.

* * *

 _Fight!_

Jesse hurtled backwards with a tremendous force as Death screamed in pain once more, for the third time today; she had managed to stab him somewhere in the back whilst he was distracted. He was so fast though, within a second the blade had been removed and she had been thrown backwards. Victorygreymon body slammed Death from out of nowhere sending the cloaked man flying across the ruined area, only for the twisted white knight to slam his knee into Victorygreymon's face.

 _Hurry up!_

Reaver raced forward in an attempt to kick Death, but Death was already on his feet and effortlessly grabbed Reaver and applied pressure to an open wound.

"You bore me." Death whispered before casting the Digidestined aside. Beelzemon crashed down on the twisted white knight in an attempt to pin him down, only for the twisted knight to turn and thrust his ominous red sword into the side of the leather clad Digimon. Beelzemon held on through the pain and fired his shotgun point blank as rapidly as he could.

 _Should I fight?_

"Hey jackass, remember me?" Will shouted as he struck the blindside of Death, pushing his blade into the side of Death. Death reacted so fast he was barely visible, pulling the blade free with one hand and used his free hand to back hand Will away.

"Get out of here!" Will called to Jesse before jumping to his feet and rushing back towards Death as Reaver was getting to his feet too. Will rushed in, dodging the first blow but never managed to land a hit as Death simply moved out of the way and booting Will out of the way to the ground once again.

 _What if someone gets hurt?_

Zeedstrikemon launched a torrent of lighting at the twisted white knight, pushing him back as far as possible, pouring more energy into the attack to repay the injuries from his past encounter with the nameless Digimon. Beelzemon struggled to push himself to his feet, noticing small data particles drifting from his side, causing him to look over at the injured Reaver in panic.

 _What if I hurt someone again?_

Jesse stood, she was done running, and she needed to be here to fight with her friends here and now. Victorygreymon pulled himself from the rubble he had landed in and charged towards the twisted white knight with his huge sword, but the twisted white knight easily returned each hit before pushing forward into Victorygreymon. The twisted white knight mumbled quietly before he unleashed a terrifyingly huge pillar of energy launching Victorygreymon back into a building, bits or armour and data easily floating away in cracked pieces. Jesse watched on horrified, as Zeedstrikemon attempted to launch another pillar of lightning, but the knight easily dodged it.

 _What do I do? What can I do? Why me?_

Death turned and held Reaver by the throat, snarling at the Digidestined who had recently tried to stab him once more.

"Not really human are you?" Reaver choked out as his perfectly clean blade dropped to the ground, without a single stain on it. Reaver attempted to kick Death but Death slammed the boy into the wall with huge strength, enough to cause glass and rubble to start falling again. Reaver's entire body went limp and Death dropped him to the floor before turning to look at Will. Will struggled to catch his breath, trying to get to his feet, his injuries finally taking a toll on him.

 _What if they die? What if I die?_

Beelzemon fired point blank into the side of the twisted knight who never noticed him coming. With a single flick of his wrist, the knight launched a second horrifyingly huge pillar of red burning energy that Beelzemon and Zeedstrikemon dodged easily.

 _Do something!_

It happened in seconds, Jesse could only shield her eyes as the pillar rushed towards her as it carved out a path tearing the ground and rubble apart of the town. Beelzemon rushed forward realising his mistake; the blast was heading straight for Jesse. Zeedstrikemon attempted to push back, using his incredible speed to race towards her, only for one of the knight's swords to crash into him, knocking him clean out of the sky.

 _Hurry up!_

Victorygreymon couldn't move, the weight of steel pillars holding him down. Even his sword was out of reach but furiously he tried to pull himself forward, urging every fibre of his being to move causing more data clusters to pour out of the gaps in his armour.

"No!" Death yelled in anger, aware of the trajectory of the blast. Jesse only had the time to move a few feet back, the pillar too big and too fast to avoid, she silently swore to herself. Something flickered in front of her, causing her heart to stop completely. Something wickedly fast had moved into the path of the pillar, causing it to detonate early, the heat of the blast smothering her. Debris, dust, and all manner of rubble shot in every direction from the blast and no one moved, no one dared make a sound as everything settled. Jesse could just about see black bits of metal slowly floating down, cracked and smouldering.

"I didn't like being defensive anyway." Blackwargreymon growled happily as his shield crumbled into nothing at his feet, having stopped the blast with sheer strength. Jesse looked over to see Trace pulling Will to his feet.

"You really shouldn't mess with my team." Trace stated simply, his tone was angry, and his body posture ready to fight. Will stood next to Trace and laughed.

"About damn time." He said cheerfully, although he knew at some point he'd have to talk to the American about what had happened.

"How about two on one?" Trace asked as Death slowly backed up. Will responded by rushing forward, Trace just behind him. Death made no attempt to hit back, simply dodging punches and a knife that were being used by the two Digidestined. Death landed one hit on Will, but left an opening for Trace to tackle Death back towards a wall, allowing Will enough time to get up and push his knife into the shoulder of Death again. Death began to fight harder, easily knocking both Digidestined back.

"Terra Destroyer!" The twisted knight was struck with the full force of a burning red orb as it rapidly burnt his armour. Zeedstrikemon didn't allow for much for a chance, summoning a pillar of lightning to come crashing down at the same time.

"Enough!" Death cried. Trace was thrown to the floor but Will held on, only for Death to turn and slam him to the ground and lean in.

"There is a reboot coming, cursed one." Trace quickly leapt back up, only to be struck with a lightning fast fist into the stomach, sending him crashing to the ground with an explosion of dirt and dust, before Death was quickly enveloped in small green data clusters, taking him out of existence.

"Did he just use a gate?" Will looked on at the spot Death had been standing only seconds ago, as Trace scrambled forward.

"Don't let him into a Digital gate!" Trace called out to Blackwargreymon. Blackwargreymon however struggled to defend against the flurry of attacks coming from the blade wielding knight. Zeedstrikemon came rushing forward only for the knight to block the attacks coming from both sides with nothing short of a masterful display of swordsmanship.

"Give up!" Blackwargreymon yelled. Without warning, a large green tear opened behind the knight who simply launched himself back into it. Blackwargreymon and Zeedstrikemon didn't hesitate to follow the knight through. Will and Trace watched on, as the green gate remained open.

"You think they're okay?" Will asked. He was answered as Zeedstrikemon was ejected violently from the gate, his armour cracked and broken. Will raced forward to meet his partner and to check on him, as Blackwargreymon landed next to them, his armour smouldering and burnt as the gate closed.

"This guy needs a hospital!" Blackwargreymon called out, drawing attention to younger blonde boy in his arms.

"He was in the gate, just floating there." Zeedstrikemon coughed out as he reverted back to Lightmon. Without warning the gate collapsed behind them.

"Why would that guy hold someone in a gate?" Trace asked, as Jesse ran over, her phone already out calling an ambulance for the boy and Reaver. Will made his way over and his eyes went wide in shock.

"I know him, his name is Lucas." He said very quietly. "He's why myself and Alex were fighting in the Dark ocean."

* * *

And with that, part 1 of the story is over. Part 2 starts next week and is titled "Resistance".


	21. Chapter 21

Welcome to part two of ReBoot, I'm sorry that this is a shorter than usual chapter but it's only a quick introduction to get things going again. Rest assured, this is the part of the story where all of the OC's you , the readers, submitted, start showing up. So I hope you read, enjoy, and review.

 **Resistance.**

Clouds lazily passed through the sky, accompanied by little more than a soft breeze in the Digital world. The town in the west had clearly developed rapidly in the time he had been gone, Will was genuinely surprised by not only the number of people who had arrived but also the way the walls had begun moving out, to make way for new buildings. Digidestined and Digimon had flooded the city with news that a certain team had reformed, and were now based in the town. Will rested his head against the stone cold brick of the newly erected tower that replaced Leya's old base, his eyes following the movements of various busy Digimon.

"So Trace is here too?" Leya asked quietly, she was sitting besides Will against the tower trying to relax for the first time in what felt like months. She had spent so long looking for him, only for them to both end up in the same town at the same time. Will murmured something but Leya already knew the answer, she had seen Blackwargreymon returning to the town with Trace and Will in tow.

"Reaver's in hospital." Will said quietly, just able to notice out of the corner of his eye that Leya was playing with Strikemon's snow white and blood red fur. A small ache ran up Will's bandaged arm and he sighed angrily at it.

"He should be okay; you said he was speaking as you guys got him to the hospital." Leya's fingers continued to play with Strikemon's fur, who was purring happily despite being a giant wolf.

"Ha, good point." Will could remember how Reaver was swearing that the blood had ruined his leather jacket, despite being horribly injured. He wouldn't be leaving hospital for some time.

"Need to try and find that Death guy." Will had begun to question just how often Death had attacked people he knew, or if his group was being targeted.

"You said you weren't sure if he was human or not…" Leya asked, suddenly feeling very awake.

"I don't think he is, he moves too fast and he's far too strong. Reaver and I both stabbed him but the blades were clean. If he was human, he'd be injured and bleeding." Will had to question; just what sort of Digital being could control a Digimon and open gates by choice. Leya sat up straight, taking her head off Will's shoulder suddenly finding herself very awake.

"You said you brought a boy back with you, what happened with him?" Leya remembered her list of questions she had intended to ask Will as he returned, she wanted a full run down of information and she was going to get it. Will tensed, his head had erupted in pain at sight of the boy, as if the very memory had ripped itself through his skull. He sighed and shut his eyes, he wasn't happy with what he remembered.

"Myself, Alex, and Trace, had gone to stop a ritual. One of Gennai's fragments, a digital being, had decided the best way to refuel the wall of flame that holds back the worst dark Digimon of this world, was to sacrifice a Digidestined to it. Specifically, that kid. His crest is attuned to flame, so bad guy thought he'd be a good match for the wall of flame. We went to the Dark Ocean, I remember a fight, and then my memory is still a little fuzzy after that." Will rambled off, having only just put together the fragments of his memory; he had begun to worry about what else he had forgotten. He still had no clue why Death referred to him as "the cursed one", not yet anyway.

"I barely remember the fight." Strikemon growled as his memory was even worse than Will's.

"What's his name?" Leya asked , clearly searching for more information.

"Lucas Star." Will answered simply, but Leya didn't hear a word he said as soon as he said that name.

"Where is he?" Ley asked bluntly. Will was in the middle of saying something but she interrupted him, needing more information.

"He's in that hospital looking place here…" Before Will could answer Leya interjected again.

"I travelled with him when I was looking for you." Leya offered the simple explanation before taking off, running through the town. Will said nothing and simply watched her racing off.

"Not going after her?" Strikemon growled quietly, his injuries still slowly healing in the days following the battle.

"No. She clearly has her own things to sort out and investigate." Will said simply, shutting his eyes and leaning his head against the tower. He was exhausted, as simple as that.

"So what's our next move?" Strikemon asked, not even bothering to move. Will opened his eyes and looked at the mountain he had been on with Alex weeks before.

"The virus seems to be manifesting more in the real world than it is here." Will muttered but his mind was elsewhere, he couldn't move freely in this region if the Digital King had real forces and control of the land.

"Things are complicated again." Strikemon laughed in a quiet growl.

"Think our lives will ever be simple again?" Will asked, suddenly turning the conversation serious.

"Honestly, no. We'll probably die fighting, so we should enjoy our rest whilst we can." Will laughed, Strikemon was probably right. They had rarely had even a small break from fighting since they had met years ago, it made sense that Strikemon would expect it to end like that. Will could still feel a horribly dull throb in his newly bandaged arm.

"So, we're going after the king?" Will asked, knowing full well that Strikemon would have been deciding what he wanted to fight next.

"King!" Strikemon growled as he got to his feet. Will pulled himself to his feet, still aching.

"Hold on, I want a word with you." Will turned, to see Alex and Elegon walking towards him.

"We need to talk first, before you do something." Elegon said it simply, but his eyes were tired and dark.

"What's wrong?" Will asked, it was rare to see Elegon so tired and without energy.

"There are people here who want to see you, a team of Digidestined who work for the King." Elegon answered said it simply, but with a hint of guilt.

"Why?" Will asked bluntly, he was tired, he was sore, and he wasn't getting all the information.

"They're here to arrest you." Alex blurted out.

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For anyone who would like to read about Lucas and Leya's meeting, head on over to Megablastdragon's profile to read her latest series.


	22. Chapter 22

Apologies for vanishing, but sometimes life has to come first. I'm not entirely sure when I'll have the time for producing the larger chapters, so instead please enjoy these smaller snippets to start off part 2. Longer chapters will return when I have more free time. Apologies for the delay but I hope you enjoy the start of part 2.

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Smoke and steam rose above the city as people and Digimon moved to and fro. The city was huge in every respect, shops and buildings lined every single inch of the city that covered as far as the eye could see. Towers and Digital buildings rose and crossed across the sky, casting huge shadows on the populace below. Among the populace were those in uniforms with a large yellow symbol etched onto a black background, some wore it as a sash, others as a coat. This bustling chaos of people, Digimon, soldiers, and citizens was none other than the Kingdom of Xhos, the self proclaimed first Western Digital Empire in the Digital world. High above in the largest tower stood a single figure watching over his property. He kept his hands behind his back and smiled, enjoying what he had built and what was to come. For a moment he studied himself in the glass, appreciating his simple but smart white shirt, and perfectly straight black trousers, with highly polished black shoes. Not a single black hair was out of place and his porcelain skin was completely unflawed.

"Sir, are you sure that it was a smart idea to go after them? Him in particular?" Someone behind him decided it was their place to question the figure at the window. He doesn't reply and instead continues to look down below. He is the King; he does not ever need to reply should he not wish to.

"Sir?" The man asked once again.

"It is better to deal with problems like them sooner than later. After all, Emma already made contact with one of them, the one that calls himself Elegon." His voice is smooth and perfected every tone and accent spoken perfectly.

"There are rumours that she has developed something of a soft spot for him." The man notes casually as he checks his clip board of notes and information.

"Young love is always an interesting interlude, don't you think?" The King smiled as he slowly brought his hand around and rested it on his Digivice, not unlike the original series, but with a golden and ruby inlay.

"Yes, but it has no place in a theatre of war." The man remarked coldly, his mind clearly drifting back to a more painful experience that he clearly did not wish to delve into.

"War? Who said anything about war!" The King turned; his face contorted in fear and shock at the suggestion his motives were nothing but violence.

"I have no desire for war! We have seen enough!" The King raised his voice but quickly shook his head and returned to staring out of the window.

" It would hardly be a war, considering they only have acquired one small town and some farms, they do not have a force worth bothering with." The man was not even bothered by the raised voice of a powerful King, and simply continued with the discussion.

"You should not underestimate them. I know you have dealt with small and lethal forces, but you should not under estimate Gennai's chosen. They are a terrifying force of nature should you make enemies of them. Especially the one we wish to speak too." The King's thoughts began to drift for a moment.

"You speak of the one who vanished? Will? What do you ever want with him anyway?" The man asked, his patience clearly running thin.

"Yes, the one who seems to attract trouble every where he goes. I thought he had been lost but he has resurfaced! He has very unique skills, and quite a pull with a lot of Digidestined. His opinion is always valued in all things Digital. It is quite simple; I wish to offer him a job." The King grinned happily, his plan clearly coming into play bit by bit. He had grand plans for the city and its future, for he needed to continue building the Empire.

"A job? The last one you…offered a job to did not quite go to plan, sir." A familiar scar ached on the man's arm, a terrible reminder of his personal introduction to the Digital Sovereigns.

"Do not worry so much! Now, please, tell me how the progress of our prison is coming?" The King turned and his eyes seemed darker than usual, but the man put it down to the odd lightning that filtered into the room through the huge tall windows. The King did not need to worry about inviting Will to come for an interview; he had sent his best interviewers to deliver the questions personally to receive the best assessment possible. The King had no doubt he would meet his heroes very soon.


	23. Chapter 23

Apologies for another short one, but they should soon start growing in length again. Only one or two more of these left I promise before real chapters.

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Even in the darkness the sounds could reach him, slowly and violently pulling him from his slumber, dragging his mind back into the land of the living. There was shouting and arguing ringing all around but as he slowly rocked himself on to his side, everything screamed in pain as his joints began to remember how to once again move. He could barely open his eyes, the light coming through the window too much to handle for his out of use eyes. Something was screaming at him to get up, he had to find out what was going on. With a grunt he rolled out of what he assumed was a bed and face first into the cold hard stone floor.

"God damn it." His speech felt slurred and wrong. Without realising he had already started to pull himself up and his vision was beginning to return.

"What the hell happened?" He asked groggily. His mind was too groggy but pieces came back, images of when he traveled with Leya. She stuck out in his mind as someone he had to find, but why was he with her?

"Will!" Suddenly it came rushing back. He had been looking for Will, he had to find Will! Will was missing and he had joined Leya to search for him! His heart stopped, Leya was missing too, she had just taken off in the middle of a night and he had never seen her again.

"Gotta move!" Lucas groaned briefly, his hand fumbled to the top of his jeans and he slid his hand around his waist, his Digivice was still there, good. He looked around the room as best as he could to see his partner Gaomon was in his own bed with no sign of moving.

"Guess we're not going anywhere just yet." Slowly and carefully he looked around, the room was bare and simple but clean. He made his way to the door and pushed with all of his strength but it wouldn't budge. He put his ear to it but couldn't hear anything, something had learnt from Leya, make sure you check everything. Carefully he made his way to the window and peered outside.

"You need to come with us." Said one hooded figure in the distance, Lucas' eyes stung from the light but he could make out what was going on. He couldn't believe his eyes, there, being pointed at by the figure was Will. The person he had been looking for was right there down below where Lucas was.

"You can't just walk in here and assume you can boss people around!" Someone was shouting at the hooded figures. The figure turned and raised a hand to the person but Will easily stepped in the way and pushed the figure back. Lucas knew that was Will, it had to be, no one else moved like that. Another voice was raised and Lucas stepped back, seeing it was Leya. She had found Will without him! Wait, they were moving, the hooded figures began to walk with Will.

"What? No!" Lucas ran back to where Gaomon was, he had to get to Will! He had to get down there!


	24. Chapter 24

Still not dead. Still writing. Apologies for the hiatus but I should be back for at least a week or every other week update. We are picking up where we left off with a short intro here which we can consider the start of "part two". I hope you enjoy and continue reading.

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Gennai hobbled slowly round the metal table, careful to avoid the rough metal edge that was barely illuminated by the candles attached to the walls of his small building. He placed a small warm cup of tea on the table in front of his guest and made his way to sit down. He slowly set his hands down on the table, and looked at his guest with his weary and tired eyes. His arm throbbed, despite being a Digital being; he was no immune to the failings of his body.

"They say you were there, when it started." Gennai spoke slowly, he was exhausted, and after all repairing a Digital World took significant time and energy. His guest stared past the cup of tea, his mind lacking presence in the room. He was bandaged heavily, his eye swollen shut, his best arm in a cast, and the pain was unbearable, yet he did not move or make any sign of being in pain.

"Lucas?" Gennai called out to his guest. Lucas looked up, suddenly brought back into the room as his eyes lit up, but they slowly dulled.

"Sorry." Lucas apologised quietly. His once bright personality had dimmed with recent events. He had joined the Digidestined when he was younger and had been fortunate enough to be trained by some of the best, sadly that hadn't helped recently.

"Is it true?" Gennai asked once, he needed to get to the heart of what had happened, he needed the information.

"Is what true?" Lucas asked sharply. His once brash nature had been dulled and beaten down.

"Were you there when it happened?" A rumble erupted outside; the after affects of what had happened still plagued the Digital world as everything attempted to reassemble itself.

"When what happened?" Lucas asked bluntly. The rumble sent a dull chill down his spine, the aftershocks were nothing compared to the eye of the storm they had been in a few days before.

"When the Digidestined died." Gennai was tired and cut to the point. They had experienced a great loss in recent days when the sky opened.

"Which ones? A lot of people died." Lucas was tried to avoid the point, but he was too tired to keep it up.

"The international chosen. The hero's of the west, as they were called." Gennai felt sorrow as he mentioned the name that group of the Digidestined had been referred to by other Digidestined. Lucas sighed heavily and cast his head down.

"You mean how I killed them?" Lucas replied, his voice filled with remorse as he felt a pit in his chest open up.

"That remains to be seen, but I need you to tell me what happened, from the start." Gennai urged the boy on patiently. Lucas sighed again, and took a short moment to compose himself.

"It started when the King came for Will, and with a clap of thunder. The story of how the Digidestined died."


End file.
